Tamarinz: Phase 1
by RanChAnimations
Summary: In the year 2040 back in England, almost 20-year-old No-Eyes is the daughter of 2-D who became married and had her (and probably is not platonically in love with a fly anymore). History rhymes as No-Eyes, Rose, May, and Sam establish the band "Tamarinz," aim for stardom and have secrets unravel along the way... [Mild violence & language]
1. Chapter 1

High school can be pretty bothersome when you are roughly three years older than your senior peers. Most may snicker about you and others would rely on you for help on certain questions, which always puzzled me because I did not graduate on time for a reason. Perhaps being ditzy runs in the family. My father was quite the airhead himself, respectively. You can tell he is my inspiration from our taste in fashion, but it was not my choice to share bizarre azure blue hair -mine is long enough to reach below my knees unlike his, of course- and our severe hyphema. It was unfortunately recessive by a slim-to-none chance, but I consider mine less satisfactory. My vision is far more damaged than his and I am prone to tripping or bumping into people or objects, which did not help how people saw me at school. I am not asking for your pity, I just wish to speak the truth. I go by my nickname "No-Eyes" not just by those who pick on me because of the poor condition of my eyes. I just like how it sounds and it is a sort of indirect reference to my father's stage name, 2-D.

Speaking of stage names, I also happen to be in a band, but with _twenty_-year-old misfits and my pal, Samantha. She is definitely the only one I can trust in this band full of psychos. She is a senior like us, but only nineteen like me, barely making her a super-senior. Even though she is a bit timid, she loves to cheer people up with her jokes and is generally well-intended and mild-mannered. Our band did not have an official name at the moment, but I thought of something that was loosely inspired by the once famous band my father was the lead singer of called Gorillaz. I told him about it as soon as I joined and he was really glad that I joined a band and was less worried about me moving out of his band's strange mansion. I am just grateful I was even allowed to move out when I did not finish high school yet. He must have wanted me to leave as soon as possible for my safety. Even our band's bass player Rose's apartment is safer than there and she is coincidentally almost as nuts as uncle Murdoc.

"I remember the first time I heard you sing," 2-D reminisced. "And I knew you were capable of being a star one day. This will be your first step, or probably second step, toward being famous like me and the others were. Maybe even better. Hopefully, they're not gonna drag you into confronting demons or a whale or somefink."

"You kidding? I love whales!" I replied.

"Don't be fooled by their looks, sweetheart. One almost ate me!"

"Don't worry!" I laughed. "We don't even have a name yet!"

"Hm. How 'bout a spin-off name to our's like 'Chimpz?'"

"That name's taken, actually. What about the Tamarinz? That could work, but the girls might not like it."

"Oh. Well, good luck with coming up with a name. You're gonna visit us often, right?" As he asked that, I imagined what it would be like if I did come and visit often and thought about shortening my visits to just on holidays.

"Maybe not too often, but I will for sure. You can visit me whenever you want."

"Take care of yourself out there, love."

As much as I am relieved to be able to leave, instincts made me miss living with him a lot. We gave each other a big hug as I fought back tears. When I was just about to go on my way, I turned around and looked for tears in his deep black eyes. Instead, he smiled and waved at me, giving no signs of sadness. He never really was the type to get that emotional around me. While this did sort of make me worry at times, I was also impressed by it.

I liked the idea of a spin-off band to them, but it is not my decision to come up with-Well, anything for the band because of Rose. She is the self-proclaimed leader of the band. While she is rather talented with her songwriting and bass playing, she can be really stuck-up and pushy. I sat with her at her apartment that I barely moved into, trying to brainstorm for our name with her, our main guitarist, May, and our drummer, Sam.

"We are _not _going to be associated with that rubbish band," Rose mocked. "They're just so outdated! All they did was make lousy noises with computers since 2016! I'd be embarrassed to call myself a family member. Wouldn't you, No-Brains?"

"Oh, sorry for opening my mouth, Rosie." I replied sourly, clearly regretting joining a band just to be in a band.

"Damn straight," remarked Rose. "Your dad doesn't even have any groundbreaking vocals and the song lyrics never had a heart to them. I actually know how to write _and_ play."

I just love it when she strokes her ego. I was shocked when she mentioned "heart" because she seemed to lack any of it herself. Maybe not song-wise, but personality-wise. I must admit, though. Her songs did catch my attention. I hoped that maybe there was some good in her, but even her songs could not convince me that she would openly show kindness to anyone.

"Why are we even worried about our band name right now?" May asked. "They could just call us 'Those girls that couldn't keep up in school, so they had to form a band so we could pity them even more.'"

May is very similar to Rose, but just a bit sassier in general, less violent for me, and does not know how to write a song to save her life. How she plays her electric guitar is not half bad, however. We also did recognise each other for as long as I can remember, unlike the crazed kidnapper of a bass player-something I will get to later.

"And Sam," Sam jokingly replied, trying to complete the silly name May came up with.

"Shut up," May shot back, possibly lowkey jealous of her being only barely up-to-date with her classmates.

"Er, maybe we should just go back to practising," I suggested. "We can think of it as we play."

"_You _could go practice," Rose replied. "You're not much help with names anyway. Be careful with that voice, too. I don't want to hear you sound like you're dying."

Sometimes, my hyphema can be helpful because Rose would not be able to tell that I was rolling my eyes at her for her smart-aleck remarks. I walked to my new bedroom, the storage room, to sing by myself. I was surprised I was even allowed to engage in a conversation with her. I was merely a tool to her because she stumbled upon me one-day last year at the cafeteria after school while she was putting up posters for a concert as I was waiting for Sam to come with me so we could just hang out and chat. I was singing one of my father's songs -I think it was Tomorrow Comes Today- and let's just say she was impressed. We did not have a long history of knowing each other, but she must have been so desperate to form a band, perhaps as a publicity stunt or to prove something. So she did what any rational person would do to convince me to be the lead singer of the band.

She slammed me with a chair to knock me out, drove me to her apartment, splashed her wine in my face to wake me up, and shoved a microphone in my hand, expecting me to sing a song she wrote. Of course, I was terrified and speechless, yet she did not care. Me, being the gullible person I am, I fell in love with her song and joined her formerly two-member band because I have always dreamed of being a singer. I can assume that May was the first to volunteer to join Rose's band because they were already friends despite how they sometimes cannot stand each other. Then I invited Sam to join because I figured they needed a drummer, but she was not too thrilled to meet Rose or May either.

"Sam, this is Rose and May," I explained. "I moved in with them to leave my mansion and I thought that you could join our band because all we need is a drummer."

"I mean," May added. "We don't _need_ a drummer because we could always use a drum machine app, but okay."

Sam's smile quickly dropped and she looked a little embarrassed by May's comment. Rose had to retaliate to keep her from changing her mind about drumming for the band because she has never been fond of relying on technology for such situations and wanted us to sound natural. Her response might have been misleading, though.

"Are you crazy?" Rose asked May. "That would mean more work for me to do! Don't you try to scare away some stranger that actually volunteered to come with us! Her friends could help support us, too."

"No, she's right," Sam replied nervously. "A drum machine sounds like a better idea." She already had a bad feeling about them, but I was still able to convince her to join.

"I wouldn't worry about them if I were you," I whispered to her. "They'll only pick on me. If they do abuse you, I'll do something about it."

"I guess if _you're_ in it, it wouldn't be that horrible," she whispered back. "Are you sure you can work with them?"

"I think so. We've never been invited to join a band before and this could be a good start for us."

"But why wouldn't you want to join a band with better people in it?"

"I wanted to try something nice for them."

"Er, hello?" May noted. "We can still hear you, ya know."

"Oh!" Sam shouted. "I'll be the drummer!"

We became a complete band about seven months ago from now. I guess I should have told my father about the members. Oh, boy. I did not see any demons or even a whale, but I still stressed out about this band and the pressure of being the face of it somewhat like how he was with all the madness uncle Muds got him and the others into. Then there was the concert that Rose was trying to advertise in the cafeteria last year. The date had to be extended to just around the end of September in the auditorium that night between a school play so we can be the "guest performers." Thinking about what my father said, how joining the band is my first step to becoming famous, lifted my spirit and gave me hope that I could get used to Rose and May so we could enjoy performing together and we would not be put down for being held back as much as we do now. However, it appears that we are far from getting used to each other and we have only a little over a month left on practising for our first real concert. It will be a bumpy ride.

...


	2. Chapter 2

Rose, May and I have a daily routine on weekdays to prepare ourselves for school, pick up Sam from her home so we can drop her off at school with us, be at school, drive back to our apartment, practice our songs, send Sam back home, and finally sleep or relax. One morning, Samantha was talking to me about a new American substitute teacher that she saw the day before while May was driving us all to school. She and some other girls have been swooning over him since his recent debut, but Rose would be a notable exception.

"I had him for one of my classes," she commented. "I don't see what the big deal is with him, though. He has those gross albino rat eyes. Just because he's 'muscular and athletic.' Give me a break."

"You make him sound worse than he actually is," Sam defended. "His eyes look nothing like those. He has deep blood red eyes and a cute, warm smile. He looks like he's around your age, too."

"So what if he is? He probably only wanted to work there so he could make fun of the abundant amount of over-aged students with the other bloody teachers. I can understand if they were paid a ton to work there as a reward for putting up with us and this low-quality prison of a school, come to think of it."

"I think I saw someone like that before!" I exclaimed. "I thought he was a student!"

"You sure it wasn't a pole, hon?" May remarked as she and Rose laughed.

I was _so_ ready to leave the car and get the day over with although my curiosity for the foreign substitute teacher did ease my embarrassment. I anticipated Sam introducing me to him because befriending a young sub did not seem all that bad. When it was eventually lunchtime, Sam waited with me to find him wandering around so I could introduce myself. Sam insisted that I exclusively approach him because she was too shy to confront him. She spotted him and tried to describe his appearance so I could figure out who he was.

"You see him? He's the tall, thin, somewhat muscular guy with the blonde hair. You can trust me when I say he's not as judgemental as Rose thinks he is. Maybe being friendly with him could help your grades one day."

"Er... Thanks?" I replied.

I walked over towards him after he sat on a bench to eat his lunch alone. I assumed that he was distant from the other teachers because of his age or he just wanted to enjoy the view of the plain school field with the usual grey, humid sky. Whatever the reason was, he seemed relaxed. I was sort of reluctant to introduce myself at the last minute because I was worried about annoying or startling him, but I wanted to make him feel welcome here and answer my questions.

"Hey! Aren't you a new substitute teacher?" Just as I expected, his first impression was to be shocked.

"Damn!" he exclaimed. "What happened to your eyes?! Should I take you to the nurse?!" He was clearly worried and grossed out, but I knew the drill.

"I'm good!" I nervously laughed. "They call me No-Eyes. You might have seen the back of my head before. I've heard that you're an American and I was curious about you because of that, and you haven't been a substitute in any of my classes yet." He suddenly began to grin.

"Oh, I can arrange that. You can call me Nick. I moved to England because I'm a curious guy myself. Don't worry. I don't plan on leaving this place for a while. Come and sit with me."

I knew better not to sit with strangers like him, but Sam was very encouraging so I tried to not sit too close to him. We sat together for a while and we got to know each other a little more. Some facts that I found out were that he really was shockingly only twenty years old, wears contacts to make his eyes look blood red just because he likes the colour, loves football, misses the warmth of his hometown, and is a Gorillaz fan coincidentally. I figured that maybe he knew that I was related to 2-D after observing me so he was alright with me sitting with him, and he was only remotely surprised when I admitted to being his daughter. I then saw a group of girls, not even Sam, watching us talk as they gossiped. I was not so comfortable so I tried to ditch him to go back to Sam.

"It really was nice meeting you, Nick. But I have to go find my friend now. See you tomorrow."

"That's too bad," he replied in dismay. "Later, No-Eyes!"

I could tell that he enjoyed my company, but the attention we were getting was a bit unsettling. The school bell beat me to finding Sam so I just went to the next class as I caught Rose and her boyfriend making out by the stairs and I childishly eavesdropped for a few seconds. I hoped to tick them off only to have unsuccessful results. Eventually, I met Sam after school and waited for Rose and May to arrive.

"Where did you go?" I asked Sam. "I thought you would be waiting for me to stop sitting with Nick and we could go back to hanging out."

"Wait. You call him by his first name?" Sam asked looking suspicious.

"Well, yeah. But-"

"I said you could befriend him! Not get personal with him!"

"Don't blame me! I was confused when he didn't tell me his last name, too!"

"Oh, I haven't told you. He's Mr.-"

It was at that moment when I was whacked on the back of the head with a sneaker by none other than Rosie with May beside her.

"You didn't think I saw you snooping around, huh, you damn virgin? Maybe _you_ should get a room. And _starve_." She scolded, more grumpy than usual.

"I- I didn't think it was that serious!" I stammered.

"Don't mind her," May sighed. "She _just_ found out that he was cheating on her. Nothing new. Now everybody just shut up and get in the car."

We all stepped inside the car and I noticed how nobody was in the best mood. Even Sam was looking down. I remembered that she did not answer my question about her whereabouts when we were at lunch. Perhaps she was trying to dodge the question because she was hiding something. Or maybe she was just using the toilet and I was being extra nosy. May is normally crabby so I just let her be. Rose being cheated on was a bit unfortunate, but she could always write a song about it. We all rode in silence until we returned to the apartment and practised.

The songs we worked on were coming along slowly, but surely. During our break, I noticed that Sam had been writing what appears to be lyrics to songs of her own. I hope that Sam can finish them and show Rose to convince her to use them one day if they are. I wonder how much their styles would contrast? After we dropped Sam off to her house, I was thinking about how Nick and I interacted. I was slightly creeped out, but he must be open like that to all the other students. It was not like he would have a crush on a student anyway... And then tomorrow comes.

Going to school the next day brought me an unpleasant surprise. Nick had made the most drastic change in appearance I have ever seen any teacher do. His smooth blonde hair became messy and blue. His usual formal attire is now an outfit matching mine. I have only met him yesterday and it is _always_ weird, on the very rare occasions that it does happen, to see someone attempt to match your look without further notice, especially when you are me. I remembered that one of my teachers announced that she would be absent that day. I was shaking at the thought of Nick having to step in and possibly humiliate me in class, but it turns out that I was close enough. I enter the classroom and my heart sinks as he greeted me.

"Oh! Good morning, No-Eyes! Funny seeing you here." Nick said.

You would expect a teacher to call you by your legal name or not even say any of your names, but nope. He should have found out while he was looking through an attendance chart or something. It _is_ my fault for just telling him my _nick_name, but still! Bad pun intended. I was also immediately embarrassed as I heard some snicker about us looking alike. It was as if he tried to make me uncomfortable, so I was thrown completely off-guard the whole period to the point where I did not even skim through his last name on the whiteboard- Although I probably should have listened to the lesson more. During lunch, I told Sam that I would talk to Nick about him trying to be my twin.

"So... You had him as a sub, but you still didn't get his last name...?" She asked grinning.

"His last name is the least of my worries now. How would you feel if you saw some guy wearing the exact outfit you were wearing right now?" I asked rhetorically.

Sam looked at her dress and smiled. "That's a whole different story."

"Oh," I laughed. "I guess you're right, but the point is I have to clear up the confusion. See you later."

I found Nick on the same bench as last time appearing to be waiting for me to sit with him.

"What's up, No-Eyes?" Nick smiled. "Were you glad to see me there?"

"I really wasn't," I replied. "You dressing up like this was a _huge_ distraction for everyone, specifically me. I didn't understand the reasoning behind it either."

"Wow. It's good that you speak your mind like that. You care to sit with me?"

"I don't know! Explain yourself first."

"Alright... I want to go out with you."

My gosh. It was absolutely mind-boggling how some guy I barely met would have the nerve to change his appearance to possibly impress me and be straightforward enough to admit that he likes me as if he were obsessed. It was just not normal. All I could say was "Why?"

"Let's just say it's love at first sight."

"Um... You seem nice and all, but I hope we can be friends instead. In the meantime, do your job, okay? I don't want you to get into any trouble."

"... Of course. Sorry about that." He replied with a shocked expression.

"Hey. Thanks for the discussion. I have to go now. Good day."

That really did escalate quickly, but I was glad that I could hopefully bring it back down just as fast. We waved at each other and I returned to Sam. She must have seen the whole thing because she looked as if she saw a ghost.

"Well. That's a first." Sam commented.

"Yep," I added. "I'm glad it's already done with. At least there weren't any girls that came over to watch us this time."

"Maybe he was also trying to make himself less attractive so he wouldn't get too much attention from the crowds."

"Wait," I looked at him and began to grin at Sam. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know I'm joking, girl!" She giggled.

We both laugh and then enjoyed the rest of the day at school. Nick was on the back of my mind, but I still felt bad for him because of how desperate he seemed to be for a girlfriend. I know he was not expecting to fall in love with a student, specifically one that was the same age as him. I was a bit disappointed that he did not return to school since then. I do not know what that was all about, but maybe he will be better off wherever he is.

...


	3. Chapter 3

Sometimes, we forget to do our homework so we either do it at the last minute or do not do it at all. I would love to graduate with Sam and be less stressed out, but I care too little about school at this point. My father might not approve of me dropping out without a valid reason, so having a successful band could change his mind. He does encourage me to listen to my gut feeling and do what I think is best. I thought being a lead singer could make me happy not just to make him proud of me, but to help me cope with stress. Sam noticed how I was feeling, thankfully. We were sitting together during our lunch hour at school that Friday and she saw how out of it I was.

"You okay?" She asked. "You look dead inside. Is it that time of the month?"

Okay. That was a bit awkward. Sometimes, Sam does not know the right thing to say when it comes to more serious topics. But I appreciate her curiosity for me so I took that comment with a grain of salt.

"I'm alright," I replied. "And no. I'm just a little worried about how we're going to do at the concert. It can get tense during rehearsals. I'm obviously sensitive when it comes to criticism and I overthink everything."

"I can tell. What do you say about a sleepover at my place? We can watch movies and try out makeup and dresses."

"Eh. I'm not really that feminine. I don't want to throw off Rose's schedule either. She's can be unpredictable."

"That's the problem. You worry too much about _their_ expectations. What I'll do is tell Rose to shorten our rehearsal time because five hours is just absurd. Then I'll convince her and my foster parents to let you hang out at my house overnight. Then maybe I'll teach you how to meditate. I assume you've never done that."

"You would be correct, but I think movies will do the trick. And you never had a sleepover before, so I hope that it will work out. Thanks for the offer."

"Of course! I feel kinda bad because I waited all this time to invite you over. My foster parents didn't like your family so I don't know how they'll feel about you. Hopefully, they won't dislike you because we've been friends forever. That reminds me. You still haven't met them! We'll be making history tonight. Er. Also, about that thing that I said about the time of the month. My bad. That was too much."

If I had to choose one thing I liked about her, it would be how she catches herself when she embarrasses me. I was excited to be invited to her house for the first time, but it made me wonder about what else she hid from her parents. I thought I would just hold back on the overthinking for now. As we waited for Rose and May after school, Sam informed me about positivity and how there is always a bright side. Sure, I can sometimes be enthusiastic, but bad vibes can be very contagious for me. Being more positive might help my stress a little bit. Rose and May came over to us shortly and we walked to their car. Sam told them about our sleepover.

"Why weren't we invited?" Rose asked. "I can't remember the last time I went to one, but I'm a pro with those. I'll be the life of the party. And May, I guess."

"I thought you grew out of those," May added. "We are adults after all."

"Well, yeah. I'll bring out the wine."

"May has a point. No-Eyes and I are still kids at heart. You two would feel weird being with us, especially because we won't be drinking." Sam said, trying to keep me from worrying.

"That sucks. I could let you guys go early so you won't have to drive in the dark. I'm being super generous right now because I just aced an exam so don't get too comfortable with the schedule change." Rose explained.

"I just downloaded that drum machine app I talked about a little while back, so go crazy," May added.

We rehearsed Rose's first song and while I did have a few nervous voice cracks, I remembered Sam's advice and shook off the guilt. She and I were released an hour early so May could drop us off at Sam's house. I thought that inviting May would not be such a bad idea because she might be laxer with us if we just hung out and watched movies together so I offered her a chance, which pleasantly surprised Sam.

"No, thanks," May responded. "I have a date with my boyfriend after rehearsal tonight. Don't tell Rosie about it, though."

The back of my mind was telling me to worry about what she said, but worrying was the last thing I wanted to do that night. I also did not expect her to trust us with her secret boyfriend, but the more you know. We were dropped off at Sam's mint coloured one-story house with a front-yard filled with rocks and some stepping stones. I am not exactly introverted like Sam is, so she figured that I would not be too worried about meeting them. I was still clueless about how her family would react to seeing someone as intimidating as myself. A scrawny, black-eyed 2-D offspring. I loosened up when her step-father opened the door. He was a tall, muscular African American man that wore mature clothing, which was unexpected. I also did not expect him to stare at me in disbelief because I was a total stranger instead of my peculiar appearance.

"Pumpkin... Who's this?" he irritably asked.

"This is my bestie! You can call her by her nickname, No-Eyes," she replied.

"No kidding," he remarked.

This was an incredibly uncomfortable experience confronting her frank step-father, but I tried to let it slide and make myself look good in his _eyes_. Play on words intended.

"Don't worry, sir," I said. "I brought no alcohol or cigarettes. We were friends since childhood."

"Hey! Don't leave the door open! Mosquitos are gonna come flyin' in!" a raspy female voice shouted from another room.

"... Come on in," he said softly.

Not the best first impression for parents to make when introducing a friend from school to me. We entered their house and I saw how noticeably flushed Sam was. She said the other day that she does not often have guests that are not family. The interior of the house was filled with many portraits revealing that she has two older brothers that must have moved out, decorations, a sweet smell and seemed spotless compared to the apartment. We all walked towards the kitchen where her step-mother was preparing dinner.

"Hey, mum," Sam called. "This is my friend from school, No-Eyes. We're gonna have a sleepover."

"Well," she happily exclaimed. "Would you all like some dinn- AAH!"

She turned around and shrieked as if she were pranked by someone in a Halloween mask as she clasped her chest. We all jumped and I felt an immense wave of guilt for forgetting to bring my pair of shades with me at a time like this, yet lowkey insulted by the over-the-top reaction that I should be used to. She was a lean caucasian lady with a heavy underclass-like voice, another unexpected thing. She stared at me for a little while and sighed.

"Ah, sorry about that, darling," she apologised. "I'm a bit squeamish. Sammy, you've known her for a while?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Can you come over to my room with the food when you finish it please?"

"You don't want to have her sit with us at the table? We could get to know each other." her step-mother asked.

"No, thanks. Maybe another time. We'll be watching movies and stuff."

"Well, you're more than welcome to come over if you girls change your minds," her step-father added.

Sam smiled and we walked to her room. I noticed how I would constantly tense up interacting with them, but she did her best to cheer me up every time. She told me things such as how my tension is not a part of me and I do not have to worry about a thing. They were kind but debatable words. Her room was small and somewhat bare, similar to my tiny room in a way. She had a small TV and a whole shelf of movies underneath. It was otherworldly to be invited to her room for the first time.

"Well, your foster parents are pretty... Interesting." I said.

"I am so sorry about them. I shouldn't have expected them to just roll with having any strangers in the house. Not that _I_ see you as one. I meant them." Sam replied.

"And your siblings?"

"Half-brothers. They only occasionally visit, but I do have someone that keeps me company who comes out whenever she wants."

"... Comes out?"

The room felt still. Sam's eyes were suddenly whitened and bugged out. A necklace emerged from under her shirt, one that she had never revealed to me since I first spotted it months ago. It was simple, black-chained and had a single charm of a glossy red heart, which had glowed a bright red light. The heart hovered and illuminated as a blue, somewhat static being stretched out of it. The being was revealed to be a blue ghost with long, curly brown hair and an outfit that would have been considered fashionable in the seventies. It appeared that Sam's eye colour had been transferred to her eyes. Her plump red lips moved in a rather exaggerated way when she spoke.

"Ah," she grunted. "Sammy, it's getting kinda tight in there. I'm claustrophobic."

"Oh, so now you're gonna complain?" Sam giggled. "This is No-Eyes. You've seen her before, but she hasn't seen you, obviously."

"Well, hello there, girly! I'm Amy. Her real mom. Thank you for being her friend. She woulda gone psycho if it weren't for you. Although Sam and I are besties-"

"Okay, mum," Sam interrupted. "No-Eyes, I think you two will get along just fine. She might be a bit too much sometimes, but she doesn't bite."

"Wow. Passive-aggressive much?" Amy added. I only stood there in awe from encountering the ghost of Sam's mother that she had hidden from me, who was clearly an American, but I finally reacted by going into my investigator mode after conjuring several questions for both Sam and Amy.

"Sam," I said. "You didn't have to hide her from me. She's amazing. How long have you been hiding her?"

"Thank you, baby," Amy replied. "I've been hiding in this necklace with her since my murder a few years after she was born. I don't know how it happened or who killed me _yet_, but that necklace was Sam's favorite for a while and I needed a place to hide, so she managed to keep it and myself safe from Death. Thankfully, I've been able to escape from him successfully many times."

"Wait. You don't remember how you died?" I asked.

"Nope. I was presumably poisoned or shot. What matters is that I'm still here and I repay Sammy for protecting me. We also write songs together. We're like a team... Can I trust you not to tell everyone about it? Rose and May can know 'cause they have no-one else to talk to and they could find out on their own, but anyone else is no bueno."

"Yeah, I promise. You two seem very secretive, I must say. You guys have anything else you want to reveal?" There was a brief silence after I asked this, but Amy attempted to break it.

"I have something else to reveal: I. Love. Sleep-overs. C'mon, ladies! What movie are we watching tonight?"

Sam looked anxious as Amy and I chatted but was back to normal once we got on the topic of the sleep-over. "Oh, yeah. I planned on letting No-Eyes decide what we should do..." Suddenly, her step-mother tried to knock on the door because the dinner was ready. Sam and Amy began to panic.

"Oh," her step-mother said to herself. "The door's unlocked."

...


	4. Chapter 4

Amy glided through the walls to hide and Sam threw a blanket over her head. I only stood there dazed by their speed before Sam's step-mother could see them. She paused and looked confused. I had to quickly improvise.

"Er, what's going on?" she inquired.

"Oh, this? I'm-er-giving her a make-over?" I answered uncertainly.

"Oh. You'll get a make-over yourself afterwards? She asked.

"No," I replied.

"Yes," Sam replied in unison.

Through the blanket, I could see her smug little face. She knows darn well that I hate make-up and dresses, so I shot a dirty look at her.

"Goodie! I'll get the camera when you two are ready!"

"Actually, I'm not-"

"And it's Sammy's first sleep-over, so it's a must! I mean, you two seem a bit old for those, but at least you finally gave it a try. I hope you didn't give her lipstick yet because I don't want the food to go to waste."

"No worries. I was just getting to that. I only hid her face so you couldn't see an unfinished product. See you later! Thanks for dinner!"

As soon as she walked away, I thought to myself _why am I the worst at lying?_ Now I'm going to look ridiculous all because I couldn't come up with anything better to say. At least Sam would be happy and she'll have someone to be girly with that's around her age. The door was shut so Amy slowly emerged from the wall with relief.

"You ladies in the mood for a romantic comedy?" she asked.

"I not much of a romantic. I'm more into action or horror films." I answered.

"Romantic comedies are all I have, though!" Sam rebutted. "You liking action and horror probably explains why you're so tense, along with the fact that you didn't have any feminine people in your life to teach you how to comprehend the wonders that are romantic comedies. It's not really a bad thing, but you're looking at a love expert that could save you from abhorring all the things your family didn't expose you to."

"Wow, you're girly," I sighed. "That could be why I'm like this, but I'm a tomboy at heart. Those movies are actually relaxing to me possibly as a result of my crazy family desensitising them. I feel like you're trying to avoid those movies so _you_ don't get worked up."

"... You got me. I'm super sensitive... Oh! I realised we have the movie Aliens vs. Zombies. It'll be something we both could watch."

"That sounds unprofessional and childish... Let's watch it."

The three of us raced to play the movie with excitement. Sam and I ate the corned beef hash Sam's step-mother prepared as it rolled, but I felt somewhat guilty for eating in front of a ghost that couldn't eat although she didn't seem to mind. The movie was as cheap and silly as I thought, but still fun to watch. For the twenty years of life I had, the type of fun I had was particularly lighthearted and special compared to the fun I had with my parents, especially because I didn't have many good experiences hanging out with other girls. Could it be that I conquered stress? That's what I thought before the mother and daughter partners in crime decided it would be a good idea for the make-up to be done mid-movie. I wasn't even stressed. I was just hoping they would forget.

I sat on a stool trying to watch the movie as they picked out eyeliners and whatever people put on their face. They took off my overshirt to leave me with just my white undershirt and I already knew that this will be really uncomfortable for me. My hair was extraordinarily long, but Amy managed to make a decent braid. I never expected a ghost to ever do this in my life but it's best to expect the unexpected. I was surprised at how smooth the process went and I could see the movie fine, but as she gave me a mirror, I couldn't bear to look at my well-done yet still terrifying face. Yes, I'm used to seeing my eyeless-looking self the few times I look into a mirror and there are the occasional times where I make eye contact with my father, but the make-up consisting of shades of oranges and some reds emphasised how disgusting I'm capable of looking. My unsettled state was disguised with a reassuring smile for Sam who had just done someone else's makeup for the first time.

"Girl, I knew you could pull it off," she said gleefully.

"Thanks. You did good, Sam," I replied. "Guess who's going to get a jump scare from me when I go back to her apartment tomorrow with a picture of this." We both laughed but I could tell she imagined what would happen if I actually did it and the result wouldn't be good. It would be something along the lines of a solid punch in the nose.

"Your turn," she suddenly said.

"Wait, what?! Do _your_ make-up?" I burst.

"Don't worry. Look at my face as a colouring book page."

"A _3-D_ page."

"You'll do fine! I trust you."

I don't think I was ever good with using colours like Sam is, so I let her choose what she wanted. I thought I might have some artistic ability, so I commenced as Amy finished the movie. I slowly did whatever I could with her occasional help, constantly worrying about poking her eyes. As soon as I stopped overthinking, however, I didn't even care about the finished product and had some fun with it. I gave her the mirror and saw her process what I've done. She glared at the mirror until she finally gave a crooked smile.

"Well," she commented. "You really got creative with the blending. Nice job on your first try... I'm assuming it's your first try."

"I've never met anyone as passive-aggressive as you," I laughed.

"I mean it! No one starts off like a pro, but now we know who's really gonna scare someone tonight."

"Dang it, Sam," I said in defeat. Ah, Sam. She's a cinnamon roll, but you can tell we're close by how we constantly give each other smart-aleck remarks. The movie was finished and Amy called us over. We both turned around to face her in unison and unintentionally startled her with our looks, or at least Sam's, as expected. I was almost worried about the yelp she gave out being loud enough for the step-parents to hear but was too distracted by her overdramatic reaction.

"You both ready to take pics?" Amy asked afterwards.

"Let's do one with just the three of us first. Unless you won't be visible in the picture, Amy." I jokingly replied.

"I ain't no vampire! Know your ghouls!" she shot back, catching the joke.

Sam pulled out her cellphone and handed it to Amy who detached her head and handed it to Sam so her body could take the picture. This ultimately creeped me out and confused me in a way, but I brushed it off. The two and a detached head of us gathered closely when the sort-of selfie was taken. We had a look at the outcome and I was impressed with how Amy apparently perfected this without her head on her. With that out of the way, Amy waved goodbye as she returned to Sam's necklace so the two of us can see the foster parents. Sam tossed her phone on her bed and we left the room and walked towards her parents to take the pictures as promised. Having already finished their dinner, the two sat on the couch together in the middle of a conversation. As soon as we got their attention, her step-father choked on his drink out of shock and his wife stared dumbfounded at us. I'd found out where Sam received her judgement.

"Leave her alone, guys," she jokingly warned her step-parents. "It's her first time." Sam and I sat on the larger couch beside the couple's individual sofas. They asked me small things such as what I thought of the movie and what my experience was like there, to which I gladly replied. Then we went into an ice-breaking conversation and I slowly grew more curious and comfortable around them. Eventually, the step-father grabbed his cellphone so he could take a picture of us ladies sitting together. This time I didn't get to see the picture because I began to grow tired so the two of us retreated to the bedroom after we all said goodnight to each other. After switching to our pyjamas and removing our make-up, I set up the blanket and pillow I brought and placed them aside Sam's bed, although the cold, carpetless floor could have been a bit more comfortable. While we were still partially awake, I decided to ask some last-minute questions.

"Sam," I inquired. "If your real mum is a ghost, where is your real dad?"

"I never met him," she answered. "She never got married. She had my oldest brother B. when she was still in high school and was forced to have him because my grandparents were against abortions. So am I, but I can't imagine being in that situation, you know. Then she had my brother Michael and me so he wouldn't be an only child. She doesn't like to talk about the three guys she slept with. Did I tell you she was also a stripper?"

"No, but that sure escalated quickly!" I laughed nervously.

"What's it like not having siblings?"

"I used to hate it, but I figured if my mum could grow up with no siblings, having grown up with two loving father-like figures and a guy she cared about, I could deal with it. Plus, it's hard to be alone when you live with them, but that's just me. Did you ever want a sister?"

"A big sister would have been cool, but I'm not complaining. Well, goodnight, No-Eyes. I hope this was all worth it."

"It really was."

The next morning, May came over to pick us up for practice. I shook Sam's parents' hands and thanked them for their hospitality. They offered breakfast before I left, but I declined. Sam kissed them goodbye and we walked towards May's car. We saw how oddly happy May was as if something amazing happened to her while we were gone. We hopped in the same seats as last time and she wondered how the sleepover went.

"How childish was it?" she asked returning to normal but still in a good mood.

"Childish or not, it was a blast," I defended. "It looks like you had fun, too. What have you and that boyfriend of yours been up to?"

"Oh, I forgot I told you about him. That's none of your business."

As we rode towards Rose's apartment, I stared out the car window reminiscing that sleepover and sighed. Once we reached the destination, everything went back to normal, but the thoughts remained. We went back to practising Rose's songs, but with a new outlook. I never considered how performing can be more than just an escape because there's no escaping from your mistakes. I think Rose said something like that when we were rehearsing one afternoon.

"You guys all make mistakes because you are human beings," she lectured. "But make sure you make as little as possible because I have no patience today. Don't forget that I'm not gonna write all of your music sheets anymore. I'll stick to my own and the lyrics."

"You expect us to improvise?" May asked.

"Just take what I gave you, copy it and change it up a bit. No guitar solos."

"Don't you have any songs with a solo?"

"Not yet. You could always write a song in our next album."

"What do you mean 'album?!' We're amateurs! You only have two songs and you know how I am with coming up with them. It wouldn't hurt to have one of them stand out in this imaginary album."

"Just thinking ahead. You're gonna find inspiration one day and I'll fix up what you had in mind... In the next album."

May did not like that answer. They drifted into an argument while Sam and I just watched, entertained by their persistence. I realised that I could find enlightenment in hard times as Sam told me. I'm still that easily flustered girl, but I'll try to find the fun in any situation.

...


	5. Chapter 5

I remembered that we have so much time before our first concert, but it felt longer because we rehearse at most five hours a day. If you thought that was draining, you would be correct. I'm thankful for being in a band, but if you couldn't tell already, I'm a bit lazy. Sam never asked to join and would probably not mind leaving once she goes to her dream college. May seems like a floater to the band and school because of how under-the-radar she is; she never really messes up when we rehearse for someone that just calls music a hobby and I wonder how she gets away with doing practically nothing during class. She's very mysterious, a quality that interests me, but still intimidating at the same time. The only person in the band that actually seems passionate about rehearsals would be Rose; She's the one who calls us up to the living room where we keep our instruments so we can practice and normally cuts us off whenever we mess up unless someone else catches herself and accidentally stops everyone else, which is one of Rose's pet peeves. The concert at the end of this month could be flawless if we kept that routine up. One day during the last minute of break time from practice while Sam and May were minding their own business, Rose and I were on the sofa and I asked her about the plan for the concert, to which she gladly replied.

"It'll be amazing," she boasted. "The two songs we've been working on were only out of the twelve songs I wrote lyrics for. I just need to think of the music for those. And yes, I always write the lyrics before the music, don't judge me. For now, we'll just work on the two and once we get invited to perform for other events like parties or something, we can finish up the album I planned. Until further notice, you guys don't have to worry about your outfits for the concert. They're gonna love the bass lines I came up with, I hope."

"Wow," I added. "You seem to know what you're doing. It's as if you planned this your whole life."

"And _you_ don't," she caught herself. "Come on, you're wasting time. I don't care if you sing like a broken record. Just as long as you don't embarrass me up there."

That brief moment of humanity from her lingered for a while. I know she's full of ideas and inspiration, but something holds her back. Who else does she have to open up about them to besides us? I feel sort of bad for assuming she was completely heartless. I mean, she is, but nobody is born that way. The four of us knew so little about each other at the time, or at least Rose and May don't know about Sam and I. My idea of a band is a group of close friends playing together effectively, giving constructive criticisms and having a good time offscreen and onscreen. I can only assume their ideal band, but I hope that they'd rather not play with whom they consider strangers. I decided after that practice that we could sit at the dinner table and get to know one another because we would find out eventually anyway, but I'd love to get it over with. Rose and May didn't seem to care that much and Sam looked nervous, so I decided to go first.

"Hi," I said cheerily. "I'm No-Eyes. My real name is Ellie, though. I don't have siblings, but I liked to tag along with my family whenever we travelled and stuff. We especially enjoyed going to America; it's so colourful there compared to here-"

I cut myself off when I noticed that only Sam appeared engaged. I awkwardly smiled at her because she already knew about me. I waited for a reaction from the other two until May finally stopped resting her eyes.

"You're 2-D's daughter, right?" she inquired.

"I thought you knew," I replied.

"What's it like having a drug addict for a dad?" she tested.

"Well, er, I mean it worried me sometimes, but he's not remotely as destructive as Murdoc is."

"You've got a real stable family there, hon."

"Don't do this, May. You don't know me. That's why I started this. I wouldn't think the worst of you if you told us about your parents." I was feeling patient that day, but I know May likes to get on everyone's bad side for her own sake.

"I bet you would."

"Tell me then. I've known you since primary school and I've never seen them."

"If you insist-"

"My turn!" Rose interrupted to save May; she must be the only one that knew her. "Hello, ladies, I'm Rosaline. I grew up with a single mum and no siblings, too, whaddya know? I haven't seen that hag for years. I wonder if the meds finally got to her? I feel like she shaped me into the fine specimen I am now, wouldn't ya agree? Would you guys believe me if I told you that I grew up Christian because of her?"

There was an uncomfortable silence among the table. Sam was mute the whole time and I forgot what I was about to tell May, so Rose's plan worked.

"I know," she continued. "I'm _so_ interesting, huh? The boys can't resist me. It's why I give up free time for music and finding a match. My mum might've ruined singing for me, but she couldn't taint my passion for fashion as you can see. How about you, Samantha?"

"Oh, er," Sam replied. "I'm Sam... Er, I have a 30-year-old brother I call B. and a 25-year-old brother Michael; I didn't have much in common with them, but we still played video games and watched TV together back then. Then we went our separate ways. In case you guys were wondering why I'm a 19-year-old still in high school, it's because I dropped out one year for my sort-of-job as a volunteer for the cancer centre and to finally get a driving permit. I gave up graduating with my friends, but I happen to get along with the underclassmen a bit more anyway. For hobbies, er, I write songs, I guess-"

"Really?!" Rose burst, only after hearing the keywords '_write songs_.' "Can I see?"

"I'm not sure you'll like it," Sam hesitated.

"The more songs we have, the merrier," Rose insisted. "I've caught you writing stuff lately and I assumed it was just homework."

Rose took the words out of my mouth. _I finally get to see her songs_, I thought. She pulled out her small pink backpack and dug for her song journal, which was a velvety red booklet with gold-rimmed pages. She briefly opened to the first page, which listed several music genres that she wanted to associate with her lyrics, such as alternative rock and hip hop, as well as writings that are possibly side notes. She then flipped to the next page and her first song ever written was revealed, according to the top of the page.

Everyone, even May, read her thoughts spilt unto the pages. Perhaps I was a bit too observant; I saw many erase marks that hinted that the few songs she had currently written were carefully edited lyrically and she didn't give up on the songs until they satisfied her needs. I even saw rap parts for Amy to sing; I didn't know she could! Sam was holding it out for them to see despite how flushed she was, but the catch was how she practically skimmed through the pages to avoid further embarrassment. From what we were able to see, I found out that she and Rose's style of lyrics were not too far off; Rose surprisingly has an openly romantic style to her songs while Sam turned out to be a natural at lyrical storytelling and could be making some political statements within her songs, but they are still secretly romantic. You'd think that Sam, a huge romantic, would write vampire love songs or something. This side of her really impressed me; For as long as I've known her, she didn't like to go in-depth about herself and she preferred to listen to others so I could only observe how she interacts to know anything about her, but now I could learn so much more about her from that velvet book- Not that I'm going to snoop into her stuff, of course! From Rose's reaction to the songs, I almost thought she would, though.

"You've got to be kidding me," Rose exclaimed. "You wrote this, Sam? You write like a middle-aged guy."

" ... Thank you?" Sam sort of took the sort-of-complement.

"I'm considering making these official, but I can't let these in my album; Our songs would clash."

"I agree. I didn't even think about releasing these."

"It looks like you have more songs at the moment, so we might have to drop your album first if I take too long on mine."

"You mean we can play her songs at the concert?" I eagerly asked Rose.

"Sam doesn't seem too confident in her work yet," she replied to me and then turned to Sam. "Don't feel like you have to rush. Once you think you're ready, we'll pick two of your songs to perform, but I don't think this generation will understand your style like they'll understand mine."

"Thanks for the consideration, I guess," Sam said bashfully.

I was pleased with the thought of her letting Rose put her songs aside because she was so genuinely impressed and that we could all rehearse the songs at the last minute, thus bringing something new to the table for the audience. In return for the sleep-over, I considered helping her out with her confidence unless that was what Rose was trying to accomplish. A sweet Rose would be ideal, but I can only imagine the outcome of her keeping that up; she must be the most unpredictable person I've ever met. I was about to ask Sam what she would like to do for another hang-out, thinking our self-introductions were over, but her face suddenly lifted as if she remembered something.

"May!" she inquired. "What were you going to say about yourself?"

We all stared at her waiting for a response, but Rose was the only one that gave off a notion for her to respond carefully, thinking I wouldn't notice.

"I play golf," May finally replied.

"Oh," I said, actually intrigued. "I never would have guessed. Are you a professional?"

"Sure," she hinted.

"What do you guys say about us playing mini-golf together sometime?" Sam asked us.

"That sounds like fun!" I answered.

"I don't see why not," May shrugged.

"Well, I'll see if I can make time for it," Rose added.

So we did go that weekend after looking over Sam's songs. She only had the lyrics, so she and I improvised with her drums and my keyboard to create random melodies and beats, with Rose and May improvising afterwards. We've never done that before, but we look forward to doing it more. We played mini-golf at a kids theme park with absolutely no shame. Every opportunity I have to talk to Rose I take, whether she feels like it or not, so I began to chat with her as we waited for our turns. I recalled Rose saying that her mother ruined singing for her, so I wanted her to clarify.

"I kinda went off, didn't I?" she admitted. "My mum told me how she used to be in an unknown band, which was a bit ironic. Then she said she gave up on music entirely, never being specific as to why, and would tell me to shut up whenever she caught me singing to myself. So, yeah, I'm out of practice. That's why you're in the band. Your parents were rather supportive of you compared to mine, huh?"

I didn't know how to respond to that. I never thought that my heart would ever sink for Rose. Sam isn't the only insecure one in the band. I still have a feeling that there's more to this if she is that traumatised to never sing again even after she moved out. I _pond_ered for a little while, standing on the little bridge over the pond and forgetting that it was already my turn. (I love it when I accidentally make a bad pun. Really, I just noticed!) We took our sweet time finishing up and witnessed the inevitable victory of May, to which she casually brushed off and tried to hide that she enjoyed the experience. Having fun while playing mini-golf with the band and appreciating the detail of the London-themed golf course made me realise that my wish for the band becoming close and lax experiences with them may be coming true.

...


	6. Chapter 6

Rose eventually set her songs aside in favour of performing Sam's songs first. I'm rather scared of the fact that Rose, who I assumed to be a huge ego-maniac, is cracking and supposedly losing confidence in her creations if she had any. I guess it's too difficult to hide anything from roommates. Perhaps it's all an act so she can manipulate us and the audience into thinking she's a good person underneath; as I said, she's very unpredictable. She likes to think ahead for the band and doesn't really elaborate on how to achieve those goals. If we want to get the word out, we'll need some help from advertisements or a sponsor of some sort. I hate the thought of selling out or automatically becoming famous so I'm not as determined as Rose is to become noticed but would still appreciate a head start for even a fake manager after our first few performances. My wish for behind-the-scenes management was granted unfortunately soon.

I was shopping with Sam for groceries and a figure with blue hair caught my attention across the dairy aisle. It's a popular opinion to despise seeing familiar people at a store when you just want to purchase items and go, to which I agree, but I was sort of enlightened to finally see that person again after his disappearance. It was none other than the interesting yet still sort of creepy Nick. I guess I'm only happy to see him because I'm full of questions as always. The boy-crazy Sam quickly stopped crushing on him in favour of another attractive guy proceeding his absence, so she wasn't too nervous about seeing him again. She wasn't planning a conversation with anyone there and I had to think of what exactly to ask him, so I tried to avoid eye contact for a bit but was spotted by him anyway because I guess I'm hard to miss. (Now I sound like the ego-maniac, but it's true.) He walked over and eagerly greeted us not as students, but as mates.

"Hey!" he shouted. "How have you guys been?"

"The band has been pretty productive, actually," I replied. "Where did you go?"

"Oh, I quit being a sub."

"What?! That was quick! Why? What are you gonna do now?"

"I'm glad you asked. I want to join your band. Thank goodness for supermarkets being the best way to find friends and stuff when you least expect it- Forget I said that."

That sounds a bit suspicious if you ask me and I don't believe that he quit just to do something he'll most likely not get paid for any time soon. I may become notorious for constantly overthinking and asking tons of questions, but I think it'll save someone's life one day. Who knows?

"You haven't been coming here every day in hopes of finding me, have you?" I worried.

" ... Is that a bad thing?" he hesitated.

"Well, it was nice seeing ya. Goodbye." I said before sharply turning around to escape from the conversation.

"Wait! I know I kinda ruined how you see me as a person and I rushed in like an idiot, but I want to start over. I don't have any of your contacts, and I can safely assume that you don't check your e-mails, so I had no other option but to come here, by the way. I'd hate to have you think I'm some creep or something, which I'm not. Surely you have the heart to forgive me and find value in me as a band member."

I didn't want to give in to his plea, but I can't help but see the good in everyone. Even shady scumbags like him. Believe me when I admit that I'm rather indecisive with people, however. Luckily, I have Sam and her two-cents whenever I can't count on my judgement.

"He seems desperate," she whispered to me.

Okay, maybe she isn't that straightforward, but I still appreciate the effort. I recalled how I thought the band might need some behind-the-scenes backup. "I guess we could use a little more help with things," I told Nick. "How do you plan on assisting us once you're in?"

"Well, er," he replied. "I could be the band manager."

"Oh! Do you think you're qualified to be a manager?" I asked.

"Probably not."

" ... You know what? I'll call the leader of the band Rose and ask her. I don't care as much about you being qualified as she does."

"Thank you so much for giving me a chance, No-Eyes ... Random question: Wouldn't you rather have a cooler nickname? 'No-Eyes' is not _terrible_, but it could be better. Just saying; I'd rather call you Elizabeth or Ellie."

I laughed and shook my head at him. I left Sam alone with Nick while I was dialling Rose's number and the two had a seemingly harmless ice-breaker chat. Rose didn't take long to answer.

"What?" Rose irritably asked through the phone.

"Hey, Rosie," I replied. "What do you say about a new addition to the band?"

"Oh, absolutely! Who is it?"

"It's a guy named Nick. He wants to be the band manager."

"'A guy?' This is going to be interesting- I mean that's cool; I don't have to manage too many things anymore. Bring him over."

"Er, that's good to hear, I guess. Later." I hung up and muttered to myself _what have I done?_

"She said 'yes?!" Nick gasped.

"Yeah. She also wants you to come over to our apartment." I replied.

"Once we're all done shopping, we can meet up at the parking lot so you can follow us home," Sam added.

"Sweet! I can't thank you both enough. I'll meet ya there."

So we did just that afterwards. Sam and I found out that Nick was a motorcyclist, so I jokingly warned her to not develop a crush on him again after that because she digs that kind of stuff. Before anyone asks, I don't drive at all. It's not that I don't trust myself behind the wheel; I'm just forbidden to do so because of my eyesight, so Sam drives me places in her tiny yellow electric car whenever we go places together. As we arrived, Nick glanced in awe of our practically run-down, shady apartment building. If he is that amused by the strange places of this city, I can only imagine how he reacts to beautiful places. This is coming from someone used to and is bored of that scenery, but still. At least he's positive, though. We all walked upstairs with our groceries and I knocked on our door for someone to let us in. May shortly opened the door after looking through the window for a second. The three of us dropped our items off at the small kitchen area for May to store away (I felt bad for doing that to her but she didn't seem to care) and then spotted Rose approaching us. She and Nick gave each other the first impressions I predicted.

"Oh," Nick smiled. "Hi."

"Hi," Rose said in disbelief.

"I remember you from Art class that one time. From what I've seen, I think you're really good at drawing. Especially the outfit designs."

Dodging the compliment, Rose glared at me. "Are you kidding me? When you told me that it was a guy named Nick, you didn't tell me it was Mr R! Do you know how awkward that is?!"

"Should I get going or ... " Nick asked in concern.

"Mr R?" I looked at him. "What does the 'R' stand for?"

"I'd rather just go by Mr R," he answered. "It's a _really_ long last name. You didn't see the whiteboard?"

I tried to forget about that incident and wanted to explain to her. "Look, Rose. He really wants to be in the group-"

"You can be a groupie," Rose told him. "Manager is a strong word for you."

"I'll do anything," he explained. "I don't even care about the money right now."

"Why not?" she asked, looking suspicious.

"Er... I'm not working for the school anymore, but I see a lot of potential in you guys as friends or mates; whatever you call it here. I just want to give you guys ideas or tips to help you become successful like that band Obungus. Where to go, what to do, anything... Unless you were planning on mooching off of the Gorillaz' success or something-"

"I'll _never_ mooch off of them. You're in."

"You won't regret this, Rose. Thank you."

Shortly, I suggested for everyone to sit at the dinner table to do what I consider part two of or "Get to Know One Another" session that could have had a better part one. Unlike last time, more questions were asked. He repeated some facts about himself that he revealed to me back then for us all to hear.

"Do you live nearby?" I asked him.

"Yes," he answered without hesitation.

"How are you still alive?" May asked as if she knew him.

"... Reasons," he replied.

"What music genres do you like?" Sam inquired.

"I actually don't care about music genres as long as the lyrics are good. The only thing I might change from your songs is to add any powerful lyrics if they lack any, which I doubt would be a problem," he explained.

"So you think you can manage, produce, _and_ edit?" Rose speculated.

"Yep," he replied. "I really will do anything for you guys. Ideas come to me like vengeful underground pirates- That was a weird, specific comparison I just did there, but you get what I mean..."

All of a sudden, Sam's eyes whitened and her necklace vibrated to reveal Amy's head that popped out to chime in.

"Are you single?" Amy smirked.

She hasn't revealed herself to anyone else except me and Sam yet, so Rose and Nick jumped from their seats in fear while May still sat with her arms crossed and face barely lifted in surprise.

"Mum?!" Sam shouted in embarrassment.

"Whoa, what-?" Nick murmured.

"What is _that_ thing?!" Rose worried.

"Ouch," Amy sarcastically said. "Nice to meet y'all, too, I guess."

"This is my mum, Amy," Sam irritably explained to everyone. "She's also in the band, so she's harmless. Her timing is just bad." she cleared her throat and Amy scoffed as the rest of her body escaped from the necklace.

"... Okay?" Rose stared dumbfounded.

"Cool," Nick added.

"Not _another_ person to learn about," May complained.

"Guys, I swear I'm not making this all about me." Amy clarified. "I had to come out eventually. I'm your local amateur rapper at your acquaintance. I will love you all like my children if Sammy's okay with that."

"You know I don't like to be called 'Sammy,'" Sam ducked her head.

I always find it entertaining watching people confront each other for the first time. Taking in all of the info about all of the band members, this six-person band to me looks like it'll really make an impression once we do our first appearance on stage. There will be some confusion and maybe intimidation, but amusement nonetheless. Amy then turned to Nick.

"So you _are_ single?"  
...


	7. Chapter 7

Now that Nick is in charge of management, Rose seems surprisingly more in-the-present and left the planning for him to do so she can either turn the idea down or make room for it because she likes her schedules to be tight. Thus, she created the 'Idea Journal' from a red composition notebook for us all, but mostly Nick, to jot any events, places, or lyrics down in and that is how the two mostly communicated so far. They haven't done much talking in person yet because it's still sort of awkward having him here considering he looked through our assignments at one point. And she talked smack about him. I'm not complaining about his company because it's my fault and there is this sort of determination he possesses for this band's success.

I thought of several reasons as to why he would care so much, such as for the money, for fame, to win the Gorillaz' respect and whatnot. But I want to believe he loves an underdog story of passionate musicians jamming out together and being admired for doing what they love, which is the kind of vibe I'm getting from his genuine demeanour. Except we're not really underdogs and most of us aren't exactly passionate about it. I'm just glad that he didn't decide to move in with us. He usually comes in right after each school day and does his own thing on weekends. He never elaborates on what he does in his spare time... I'm too self-aware about my constant questionary, so I'll just accept it. When we all hung out in the living room still holding our instruments, I asked what he does in his spare time, of course, to which he dodged. However, more was revealed than all of us were prepared to know.

"I'm more concerned about you guys," Nick chuckled. "You guys are so set on band stuff. Practice, practice, practice. What do you guys do for fun? Do you even _breathe_?"

"You're new here," I replied. "We shop together, had a sleepover once, we went golfing..."

"Yawn. I guess I can't blame you guys since you haven't even been a band for that long, but now there's a guy here. We are definitely going out for a hike one day. Or lazer tag."

"You are such a kid," Rose laughed. "Although what we did wasn't any less childish, I'll give you that."

"Hey," May jokingly defended. "Golf is okay."

"I guess so, what'syourname," Nick replied to her. I paused.

"You forgot our names already?" I asked him.

"I'm better with faces," he replied. "I know all of your names except hers and I feel like the worst person ever. Missy? Mary?"

"May," she corrected. "It's also my birth month."

"I don't think I've ever called your name or seen your student ID picture for attendance. You stand out with that purple hair, too."

"That's strange," she admitted. "I guess you can't remember everybody. Even for your age."

He then suddenly raised his hand to pat May's head as an apology for guessing her name. But as soon as his hand made contact, he quickly jerked it away as a result of something poking it.

"Ow!" Nick shouted. "I-I'm sorry, May. I wasn't thinking."

May's eyes widened for a second. Before quickly fixing her hair, a small, pointy, red bump sprouted out, visible to all. It almost seemed like she was hiding horns. Everyone stared at her in confusion but Rose wanted to break the silence.

"Ew!" she overreacted. "Was that a giant cyst?!"

"You don't have to cover for me," May replied. "Everyone saw my demon horn."

"What?!" Rose exclaimed, still playing it off and nervously laughing. "What are you talking about...?! I shouldn't have said anything so they would have forgotten that they saw it, but you didn't have to explicitly admit that they were horns." May shook her head.

Nick, Sam and I sat there petrified. I remember my father warning me about demons... And whales, but that's beside the point. Could that explain her devilishly good guitar skills? Sam's strong moral compass instantly gave her second thoughts about involvement.

"I thought you said you were Christian, Rose," she murmured.

"I didn't say I was a good one, now did I?" Rose shot back. "What matters is that she can play. We're gonna go places and she'll be a factor of that."

"I... Don't think I can do this anymore," Sam stood up.

"If you quit, Sam, your parents are gonna find out exactly why you did," Rose threatened. "You'll snitch on us and we'll pay the price, but you won't get away with it."

"You guys should see my parents if you all think I'm scary," May smirked.

"Were you even a student at the school?" Nick asked her.

"I was never enrolled in any school," May shrugged. "I only went to bug some students. I'm also pretty good at vanishing before any adults caught me. Watch this." She vanished in the blink of an eye with a violet fog that trailed her and reappeared just as fast. "At this point, I'm just showing off, but it just feels so good to get it out of my chest. That fog is a bit annoying, though. Surprisingly, nobody catches that either."

"I knew this band was bad news," I stated. "But not this bad. And I got others into this. How could I be so naive? You really _are_ desperate, Rose. My dad might have gotten Stockholm Syndrome, but not us."

Rose wasn't prepared for this at all. One by one, her members were quitting her band except for May. She finally snapped.

"Fine!" she yelled. "I was afraid of this, so I made a hologram recording of us doing our best run-through. I don't need you guys anymore. All I wanted was a traditional band to perform my songs for. I didn't want to turn to technology for live performances, but you leave me no choice."

"We are _not_ going to be seen playing with you," I argued. "I'll make sure that recording is destroyed. Being in a band isn't your dream. All you want is attention."

"Good luck finding it," she laughed. "What's the use of destroying it anyway? It's not like they care about how we see each other. Should you destroy the recording, your chance of ever being respected by anyone is also destroyed. Once you quit my band, who would want to join yours? What would any of you idiots do without me?"

Pure evil was displayed. The more demonic person was really Rose. She hit where it hurt and it left me so conflicted. Should we stay in the band against our will to build a better resume or should we quit and become obscure in a world where it's harder and harder to become a household name? Sam knows what she wants to be and Nick is adaptable, but what about me? What is my Plan B? Was I just as desperate as Rose herself? I decided that until I've figured out what I wanted to do, my only option is to stay in the band to find myself.

"You're right," I murmured.

"No, she's not!" Sam defended. "You don't know how much you are loved in this world. Music isn't who you are."

"So cheezy," May judged.

"I'll quit as soon as I get a job," I affirmed everyone.

"Well," Sam responded. "I can't leave you alone with these two. You wouldn't do that to me."

"As long as the demon doesn't harm us or anything, I'll stay," Nick stated.

"Are you guys just gonna call me 'the demon' now?" May muttered.

The worst thing about the whole situation is that I let them stay with me. I'm touched by how much they genuinely care, but they don't deserve to be dragged down this selfish path. Rose was speechless. She got what she really wanted using her sharp manipulation, but there was no grin of satisfaction. It was as if she felt spoiled and as if went too far. Was she stumped by the kindness of my peers? I'm not sure what to think of her anymore. She then walked away while none of us noticed except for me.

I questioned if she even made a hologram recording or if she was just trying to scare us? Perhaps I should have had more insight about the decade that I live in sooner, but there's a reason why I didn't: It's what you would expect. Quite a few spectacular events happened, but most notably the slow technology improvement might stand out to you. No flying cars _yet_. Hologram recordings are a popular phenomenon and are easier on the eyes than cell phone screens, which are another killer. Vaping and fossil fuels are eventually going to be banned globally, it already has in the UK, in favour of the miracle source, algae. Yes, some people _smoke_ algae, but I don't recommend it. There are also timed showers, but those scare me. Now you have some sort of idea on the current general lifestyle.

Nick drove back home and Sam was driven back to her's. The apartment was dead silent afterwards. Rose has been in her room since that event and May was eating cereal at the kitchen table. I laid on the couch, staring at the ceiling to ponder. To make things less awkward, I asked May if she knew about the recording.

"Yeah," May replied with her mouth full. "I know all of her secrets and she knows all of mine. Almost. She honestly has the biggest mouth and you can't trust her with secrets. She's not gonna use the recording anyway because you guys all miraculously decided to stay in the band. We're all suckers here. The recording also makes me look fat... Did you wanna see it?"

"I'm not tired, so sure," I replied.

After finishing her cereal, she dug through the television stand drawer and found the flash drive with the recording in it. It was inserted on my phone that I had lent to her and she made sure the volume wasn't too high. She placed it on the floor for best results and a blue light flashed with a loading screen that took a split second to recover the video. Immediately, there was a two-dimensional projection of us all about to play through each song and there is an option when filming to get rid of the background to only show living things, so that was used. May and I sat on the couch to watch, but her phone suddenly buzzed so she stood up and disappeared to see a text she received privately. And yes, items can apparently vanish with her if she holds it.

I watched by myself, making observations not about how good our performance was but at how happy we look playing together. None of us seemed enthusiastic at all. We just played. Maybe we were just too focused on playing Sam's songs just right. By the way, May doesn't look fat in the recording, she's just surprisingly self-conscious. The recording ended and I turned to my right and was startled to see that Rose had been sitting and watching with me for a bit, sneaking in with her pyjamas and slippers on. I was too into the recording to notice. She made a weak smile.

"I get why you're all mad," she softly spoke. "It wasn't because there is a demon in the band, but because I let that happen out of fear of being a nobody. I guess I am a little desperate. I'm sorry."

Did my ears deceive me? She's actually being vulnerable towards me...? Me and my gullible heart. I didn't want to believe her after what she's revealed about herself to me.

"You don't have to apologise, Rose," I replied just as softly. "I know what you're trying to do here and I'm not falling for it. Not again. I mean it when I say I'm out of here. I'm sorry, too." She stood up to walk away and smiled again.

"You have guts after all."

She seemed so earnest, but I want to challenge myself to not believe her anymore. Her harsh words will always linger. I won't put up with her abuse for long and neither will Nick or Sam. I used to be able to tell who was fake and who wasn't, but my faith in most people is slowly fading with our chances of staying a band. She must be aware of her power. I will admit, though. If we had any similarities, it would be our inconsistency.

...


	8. Chapter 8

Our first performance is exactly one week away now and once all of us had the chance to discuss in the practice room without Rose and May, we took it. As much as I generally dislike excluding people from conversations as if we were gossiping about them, we needed to talk. Sam _really_ does not want to be in the band if Rose continues to be her shady self, but who was I to assume that Nick wanted to leave only because Sam and I wanted to? He never actually had a complaint about Rose or May. That whole episode started with him forgetting May's name and he was a bit confused about her status at the school, but no red flags seemed to be raised for him. I think it's because he doesn't want to give up on the band he was recently recruited in and he still sees potential in us. As for Amy, I'm surprised that she managed to hold her tongue and didn't emerge to give her opinion on the whole situation until now.

"I heard the whole thing," Amy commented. "I would have cut in on that huge explosion that was going on, but I also wanted to listen to how things unfolded without me being involved. It sounds like you guys are being held against your will and need to get out of the band ASAP. No-Eyes, have you considered working with Sammy here?"

"I actually haven't," I replied, feeling silly that I haven't thought of that sooner. "That's a great idea! I just hope I get accepted."

"They're not hiring right now," Sam reminded. "But maybe your resume will change their minds!"

Sam saying 'resume' made me even less confident. I've been fired quite a few times in my life for being such a burden as an employee with poor eyesight. I wish I could be rehired at the music shop my father worked in once. However, I can always redeem myself. Somehow. To change the topic, I told them that I knew where the recording of us was located and offered them a look, to which they accepted. I pulled out the flash drive and repeated the process of playing the recording for them. Amy would typically run through the songs with us, but this film was one of the few instances where she was absent. We all had more fun watching the recording together than when we were being filmed. Amy rapping to where she was supposed to, Nick humming along to my parts, and me and Sam being nitpicky reminded me of more light-hearted moments. I'm still set on leaving, but I don't want to look back and be bitter. When the recording ended, Nick applauded and Amy tagged along. Sam blushed and I was flattered as well. Then Amy made a random remark as if an epiphany occurred. She took the words out of my mouth.

"You know what I just noticed?" she began. "Rose and May together kinda sound like Rosemary! Rose May-ry! _And_ you can arrange my name to May's name! What?!"

"This means that this band was meant to be!" Nick jokingly added.

"I guess I'm not the only one that makes silly observations here," I laughed.

"Maybe we were," Sam smiled. "It was worth it. I was recruited with only some knowledge of rhythm and never touched a drum set before. I was surprised that Rose was alright with that. With some help, I was able to contribute to making some decent songs. Whether they're actually good or bad songs, you guys stuck with me and motivated me to keep going. Especially you, No-Eyes."

I didn't expect such a wholesome little speech from my bestie, but I'm so glad she opened up and expressed that to us. She's too kind! I'm not in such a rush to leave the band remembering that Sam, Amy, Nick and I are capable of doing great things together. Although we don't need to be in a band to hang out, I'm still a musician at heart and want to take advantage of the opportunity. I also realised that quitting the band might also mean that I should move back to my father's mansion. The band was the only reason why I even bothered living with Rose, who had just startled us after Sam finished.

"That's so sweet," she commented from behind us. "Sorry to cut in on you all having fun right now and for my bad impression I left, but I have a favour to ask of you."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Help me plot my revenge on someone."

Oh, brother. She's not helping her image that much by doing this. This _is_ new, though. Instead of putting out her anger on us, she wants us to be involved in her problem and for us to get our hands dirty.

"Okay," I began. "First of all, you're really good at sneaking up on people. I'm a bit worried. Second, what could someone have possibly done to make you not want to let it go and make this rash decision to exact revenge on this person instead of letting karma handle it?"

"Geez, all you do is question things," Rose sighed. "I have boy problems, okay? My relationships don't last long, but this one guy. Oh ho ho. This _one_ guy. Why I outta..."

"It's quite petty," May, who was sitting in the kitchen the whole time, added. "But one of her exes antagonised her online, blaming her for cheating, and he had already moved on with another for a while. He's basically cyber-bullying her with stupid pics and made all his friends think it's okay to do that because she's supposedly a cheat. This is just one reason why I don't like younger guys, but whatever."

"Are they actually funny pics?" Amy jokingly asked.

"No!" Rose shouted. "I'm not a midget! Ugh!"

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sam asked, ignoring the word that could have been viewed by her as a personal attack.

"What's there to talk about?" Rose dismayed. "I _could_ just contact the school about it and get them all suspended, but I'm not as upset about the pictures as I am of _him_. His suspension isn't enough... You know, I think I'll just wait for him to stop and get a life. I only liked him for his looks anyway. Who needs social media? If you excuse me, I'll be drinking in my room."

"But what about rehearsing-?" Nick asked and Sam and I quickly shushed him so we could get a day off.

She went to the fridge to grab her favourite wine bottle and a glass, then slowly walked to her room with her head down. She's clearly falling apart. So much has been revealed and she doesn't ever want to seek any help. I didn't want her to start drinking because whenever she's hungover, there are signs of her being caught in a cycle of abuse. Rose admitted that she didn't grow up in a warm, welcoming household, so now she thinks that what she's done is normal behaviour and wants to repeat history. I couldn't just let her sink this low. None of us could. But this is something she has to allow herself to fix. Everyone deserves to be and can be buoyant, but it all starts with one's outlook. Continuing to indulge won't always work- Also, this is just my bias, but alcohol is kinda gross. Although I could use some on certain occasions- Something came over me that made me want to cheer her up somehow.

"I'll go talk to her," I stood up.

"Good luck," May was sarky, but I continued.

When they turned their attention away from me, I snuck into my room to grab something to show Rose and ease her embarrassment, something only Sam has seen once before. It was my first time entering what looked like something from an Italian Renaissance painting, but I tried to mask my exuberance. With Rose taking over the only actual bedroom in the apartment, she chose to have the walls dual-coloured with Venetian Pink at the top and English Red at the bottom, separated by a black borderline. The open teal curtains could faintly taint what it shined on. That is if it ever shined here. There was a dark desk with piles of paper that included all sorts of illustrations and writings, but otherwise a tidy room. Thankfully, Rose forgot to lock her door, so I easily went in as she sat on her bed and poured her wine.

"Hi there," I smiled.

"I'm kinda busy right now." Rose sassed.

"Can I show you something?"

"Fine. What?"

I pulled out the mocha-coloured teddy bear that I've had for as long as I can remember. Rose's face lifted.

"Is that for me?" she hopefully asked.

"Oh, heck, no," I quickly replied thinking _Great. Now I have to buy her a teddy bear because I can't let go. _"This is my longest-lasting friend. His name is Now."

"Is that Chinese or something?" she softly laughed.

"No no no no no. I mean, like, 'right now.'" I laughed, too.

"Why would you name it _that__?_"

"It was my first word. Or maybe it was 'no,' but it sounded like 'now.' Sometimes, he reminds me that _everything_ is temporary and I need to be in the present moment."

"What's your point?"

"Isn't this embarrassing? I'm a grown woman and I talk to this little guy when I'm alone! I take him everywhere. My family doesn't know that I kept it."

"At least you had one."

I understand why people would say she's a bit self-pitying, but I'm not the type to judge. Not even her fake boyfriends were generous enough to buy gifts, although she's generally not deserving of anyone's money spent. I actually felt a bit guilty for reminding her, though.

"_This_ is more embarrassing than some silly photos on the internet and being labelled something you're not. I think so because although no one is perfect, most people still grow out of stuffed animals. Maybe I was cyber-bullied, too, but I'm not sure. Oh, well. You can choose to react to this drama in a passive way or an aggressive one. By the way, who is this guy that you hate so much?"

"Just some kid named Giovany. You probably won't know him... To be honest, I'm quite ashamed of myself for being this overdramatic. I've been acting a bit strange lately and it might just be that..."

"It's that time of the month?" I asked, referencing something Sam would say.

"Now, why would I admit such a thing?" Rose snapped out of it.

"I don't know. Er-"

"And haven't we established that only May is allowed inside my room? Get out!"

"This is a nice room you have!" I whisper-shouted as I awkwardly speed-walked away. I bumped into the wall, almost making out the door, quickly shook my head and then found my way out. Everyone was now sitting at the dinner table and looked at me.

"I heard a thud!" Amy worried. "Am I gonna have to kill someone?"

"Oh, no," I crookedly smiled. "Something just... Fell."

"Why's your forehead red?" Sam inquired.

"Er," I quickly conjured a lie. "It was getting pretty emotional in there! I blush intensely when I cry. Especially on my forehead, oddly. It's why I don't cry often. She's actually not an ugly crier. We were understanding each other more and we... Made up. We're friends now. I'll stay in the band. I slowed her down on the drinking so she wouldn't choke!"

Everyone was bewildered by my false statement. May shot a suspicious look. What made me want to lie to stay in the band was the fact that Rose isn't the entire band and I had to think about what everyone wanted. Rose, Nick and _I_ especially. As long as I'm seemingly having a good time, Sam and Amy will be content. Why I have a tendency to lie sometimes? You tell me.

"I'm happy for both of you," Nick gave me a thumbs up. "Keep up the good work, guys."

I suddenly thought of something. Switching the topic back at him, all the exciting things he would hint at doing, such as hiking and whatnot, made me realise how much I took my adventures with my family for granted. Sure, it was fun, but I thought that was normal. Travelling practically around the world to film music videos, eat their food and just get crazy. Things have toned down a lot besides the feuds I have with Rose here and there and the memories of the places we've gone made me nostalgic rather than relieved like I thought I would be. But I think it's time to make new fun memories like that. I'll try to make the ride more fun instead of waiting for others to do so, and the band with me will make it better.

...


	9. Chapter 9

When I said my journey to being a musician would be a bumpy ride, I didn't mean a complete downward spiral! That entire accident might only be the surface of the many things I don't know about Rose or May. Despite both being jerks, those two being friends doesn't make much sense to me, considering May admitted to being a nuisance to students. I told her that I knew her since primary school, but 'knowing' her is a huge overstatement. Her only involvement with me during my childhood would be her constant subtle glares. She's always sort of intimidated me. Finding out that she was a demon made me question things like if she was even 20 as she admitted, and why she would bother trying to age along with humans. Only Rose could tell us, but before I could ask, things only got worse from there.

I guess demons still need to use cellphones as one easy way to ruin lives through social media if that phone even belonged to May in the first place. That Sunday morning, it was charging on the outlet by where she places her guitar when it suddenly buzzed. It was a notification of a direct message from Giovany of all people. Not a common name for this area, might I add. I had to stop myself at the sight of his name out of shock from their interacting, fear of my punishment and guilt for being nosy. Then I jumped to the conclusion that perhaps May was who Giovany was cheating on Rose for and she turned down the sleepover for him. What was I to do with such information if that was true? I would rather believe that Giovany was just contacting her to cease an evil antic that she was doing to him, but I had too much of a bad feeling about this. Then Rose walked over and frankly relieved my suspicion.

"Don't tell May," she whispered to me. At least I didn't get my hands dirty, but who knows how many times _she_ snooped into people's phone notifications?

She turned her phone on and read the notification that had an attached image, presumably of a meme. Her smile immediately dropped as she read to herself what do you think of this one, love? Then she froze. I've seen her absolutely livid at times, but not to the extent of her tensing up and hiding her face behind her clenched hand as she did. She could hardly speak.

"Do you know what this means, No-Eyes?" she laughed.

"That Giovany is also a demon?" I played dumb.

"It means that she is so _DEAD_!" she screamed and then stormed over with the phone in her hand to May who was in the kitchen digging for food as usual.

Sam and Nick were lounging on the couch minding their own business, but their attention was drawn towards the infuriated Rose. May tried not to show her smile.

"Is something wrong, hon?" May smirked.

"This is the thanks I get for starting this band?" Rose fumed, pointing at the notification. "You slut!"

"Were you expecting things to go perfectly?" she turned around. "Look at who you're dealing with here. You think you're _so_ special having me around. I'm a _demon_, you twit! You were just asking for that consequence. Sure, I would lead you to greatness, but I always get what _I_ want in the end. To make the tempted miserable. Isn't it cute watching humans crumble?"

"You have some nerve humiliating me like that."

"Try to stop me. I can see your pride breaking."

Sam and I stared in horror, but Nick wanted to step up.

"May, you're fired!" he shouted, but as soon as they made eye contact, he quickly ducked out of her view. _Dude, really?_ I thought.

"Fired from _my_ band?" she laughed. "So be it. Later, idiots. Good luck with your performance."

With her hands behind her head, she leaned back, faded into a violet mist and sped through the front door maniacally laughing, out of sight and leaving her few possessions behind. Rose only stood at the same spot, so Nick walked towards her with concern.

"You alright, Rose?" he gently asked.

"Just leave me alone," she whispered back as she sat at the table and put her head down.

You can't always help everyone, but hey. There's always an almost convenient place for talks where you can make yourself helpful to whom you can.

"No-Eyes, Sam," Nick called us. "To the balcony."

He pointed as he walked towards the balcony preparing for a discussion. Sam and I looked at each other with slight confusion but we did what we were told. We've never stepped foot on that old rusty balcony that can hardly hold itself so that discussion ought to be good. We were three stories up and the first step I made on it sparked a loud creak to make the matter riskier. Amy must have sensed our fear of falling to our deaths so she flew out of Sam's necklace as soon as Nick closed the door on us.

"I wouldn't have minded if y'all talked in the bathroom," Amy commented as she supported the balcony with her hands. "Well, maybe a little."

"Thanks, Amy," Nick smiled and then began his talk. "Okay! So we need a plan."

"Kill her," Amy boasted.

"Do you even have any context of the situation?" Nick laughed.

"Not really," she replied. "I don't always secretly listen to everyone's conversations."

"Don't worry, guys," Sam clarified. "She's never actually killed."

"How are _you_ gonna stop May from ruining the show?" I asked Nick.

"I could bring holy water from church," Sam suggested.

"That might stump her a bit," Nick added. "But there's probably more to it and I'm no demon expert. But perhaps a slayer. Rose might want to settle things herself, but I want you all to be able to perform live. Except for May, of course. I'll make myself useful by holding her off. I hope that things don't go wrong and Rose does get to perform. In case she doesn't want to, we might have to crop her out of the projection but keep her bass audible and maybe have Amy look like she's playing it. Or I could step in so there can be a ghost versus demon battle, but I'd rather not show my face there again. I'm sure you three will perform out there no doubt. I'll make sure your experience is just fine."

"I think the first idea will work," Amy advised. "I look like a hologram anyway so the audience won't be scared of a supposed blue bassist at all. Especially if they're just playing games on their cell phones or whatever. I'm the queen of improv."

"Although holograms aren't such a big deal anymore, they'll never fail to impress me," Sam commented. "But if the rest of the students won't watch, then the easily amused senior citizens will at least."

"Now we sort of know what to expect," I stated. "I'll talk to Rose in a bit."

"I'm glad you two made up," Nick smiled at me. "She probably needed your kindness more than ever."

"Yeah..." I sighed knowing that it wasn't true.

We all went back inside but Rose wasn't there. Sam remembered that she wasn't supposed to stay long because of her foster parent's Sunday rule.

"I better get going," she opined. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

She drove away and Amy soon went back inside the necklace. Nick decided to hang out in the hallway outside to leave me and Rose alone. I really appreciate his concern for our well-being and the band's chemistry, but I won't admit that to anyone. That doesn't mean that I want Nick to get himself hurt, though. I saw that Rose's bedroom was wide open so I walked in as she was lying on her bed. I didn't have to ask her much.

"Hey, Rose-" I started.

"I know," she confessed. "This is all my fault. How could I stoop so low and take the opportunity of something so stupid? I try to seem like I'm in control, but I'm just another one of her gullible victims. I summoned her when I was a kid without my mum knowing. Believe me, she's unaware of everything. All I wanted was something to get me out of the mess I was in. I wanted something to answer my question on how I could be useful with what I had. When she appeared, she chose to look my age. I think six? She would just go out on her own, looking for you. Then she had an idea one day, and she promised me eternal youth and riches. All I had to do was find you and some other band members."

"All I said was 'hey, Rose," I nervously laughed.

"I'm a mind-reader," she replied. "I was waiting for you to walk in and be a burden."

"Well, why was she tracking me down specifically?" I asked.

"Just because you're the daughter of a Gorillaz member. In fact, I went to your school only because she said so. I mean I did school work so I wouldn't look suspicious, but I could easily drop out like that and no one would care."

"So you're not really a student either?!" I gasped. "You were both just out to get me?! Next thing I know is Sam is my guardian angel."

"Pretty much," she admitted. "Not the guardian angel thing. May wants you dead. I don't know what your family was doing in Hell, but she's probably bitter about it."

"Oh, my gosh," I felt my heart sink. "This is something you started, but it's also something you can finish. Does she have any weaknesses that you're aware of?"

"Look it up."

"You're so helpful."

"Like she'd tell me! 'Hi, I'm May! And I hate holy water and crosses!'"

"I guess all we can do is scare her away."

"Done. I'll take care of this."

"That is exactly why I wanted to talk to you. Nick wants us to be safe and in good performing condition but he doesn't know her as you do. He also wouldn't want to fight a girl. And yes, you scare me sometimes, so why not May? I really want to be in this band. Despite what she thinks, you aren't a mindless servant. This band can still strive and we don't have to go down a filthy path. We're still young, but with heart and determination, we can achieve so much-"

"Okay, okay," she interrupted. "I've heard enough. Friday is going to be fun. Be prepared."

I think I pulled a Samantha there, but I'm not complaining. I hope she didn't completely ignore me because I meant what I said. It was a huge distraction academically for me but I did try to prepare myself until the night before the performance arrived. I was definitely sleep deprived thinking about the worst that could happen, which no one should ever do. At least we actually formulated a plan and we're actually ready to execute it.

Yes, Sam did manage to collect holy water from her church and she was as sly as she could be. She tried to explain without blushing. An empty plastic bottle was dropped in the fountain right before mass and she made it look like an accident that she didn't cause while nobody was looking. Then after mass, she raced back to grab it but failed to be unnoticeable, so she pulled a No-Eyes.

"Who would do such a thing?" she overdramatised to the few confused citizens that cared. "Well, maybe the trees will like this water."

"Or you could just dump it back in there," someone suggested.

"But what about the trees?!" another argued.

"I'm sure they get watered enough by the sprinklers or the rain."

"But they can be holy trees!"

"They're already holy trees!"

Before Sam knew it, she started a holy debate about trees and she has never felt so awkward watching them. All for a bottle of water. She and her foster parents just walked away trying to forget. Thankfully, those two didn't think about why this was happening and didn't see her put on the lid and slip the bottle in her purse... Come to think of it, I feel a lot better about the show now. If that went right, then maybe the show will, too.

...


	10. Chapter 10

_Today's the big day,_ I thought as soon as I woke up. Rose and I ate some toast with strawberry honey butter spread accompanied by glasses of milk to start on a sweet note. We haven't seen May since she left without her phone to be given away and guitar to be placed on display. Rose and I don't normally chat while we get ready to go to school because she would be chatting with May. And if I was to go overboard with small-talking, I would be shushed. Because we both appreciate silence, we just sit and eat without being caught looking at each other. When we finished, we walked out and glanced at May's car that she left in the parking lot with the keys being in a kitchen drawer. We decided to not drive that car anymore because the radio stations would randomly change on us and it creeped us all out. Dr Wurzel can steal it if he wants.

Rose's white SUV was relatively untouched considering how much we relied on May to go to school and back, so Rose went over rules before we drove off. Although crabby, May was never the type to be strict and rage whenever I accidentally made a mess in her car, unlike the uptight Rose. I didn't have a beverage with me and didn't plan on bringing one, so already going over rules shows how much she trusts me: as much as I do of her. We picked Sam up from her house and her expression gave away her relief for the new ride as she stepped in with caution. We then arrived at school, which takes us less time to do without May because although she is a real demon, Rose is the speed demon.

Posters and bulletins were hung throughout this month promoting the school play, Much Ado About Nothing, _sometimes_ including in small text "featuring the interlude band Chimps." Not quite what we agreed on, but I appreciate the shout-out. The school intercom announced the play and brought up the price and location.

"Come support Drama as they perform Much Ado About Nothing tonight at 7!" the student of the intercom announced. "Doors open at 6:30 right here at the school auditorium. Students, bring your ID's! Teachers come in for free! ... Oh, what's that? ... A surprise band?! ... Ah, yes! With a special appearance by the- Chimpanzees performing right after the interlude. Be sure to buy snacks while you're waiting for the show to go on!"

"'Chimpanzees,'" a classmate laughed as everyone else tagged along.

I tried to hide my red face behind my arms. _Chimpanzees?! What on Earth-?!_ I hoped that we would not be a joke for long. Whoever was helping the girl out during the announcements, again, thanks. I appreciate the shout-out, but I think announcing "with a special appearance by a new surprise band" would have been more intriguing and less of a laughing stock than _that_. Perhaps we should have stuck with Rose's band name idea "Black Roses," but not even _she_ was set on that name. During lunch, I met Sam at our table and we already knew what to talk about.

"Did you hear the announcements?" she asked, laughing.

"How could I not?" I sighed with a weak smile. "There are a few reasons why people will show up tonight. One, they're teachers. Two, they're friends and family of the performers. Three, they'll show up for us curiously and for the wrong reason."

"You don't think we'll be a joke to them, do you? Not after we show them what we've been working on for weeks! The cover is not the book! Think of all the bands with silly names."

"Obungus."

"Yes."

"You're right. My nervousness still gets the best of me sometimes. Of course, no one cares about band names, so why should I?"

"Maybe we'll be famous one day and Tamarinz alone will be music to their ears."

"_That_ would be a bit silly, but maybe that's not a bad thing as long as we have fun."

"That's the spirit!"

"Where?!" Amy's voice echoed from Sam's necklace, startling me and Sam, so she had to push her chest to simmer it down.

"Not _that_ spirit," Sam whispered to her.

"Oh," Amy whispered back.

"You're gonna do great, No-Eyes," Sam gave me two thumbs up.

"So are you and Amy," I gave two thumbs up back. "And Rose and Nick, I guess. Come to think of it, we could have just done a cover of an existing song or two that fits the play, but this was worth it."

"You said it."

"Now the only thing I'm sort of worried about is May."

"Yeah. What exactly is supposed to happen?"

"I think that since Rose summoned her, she might know how to take her back."

"... Did you say she 'summoned her?'" Sam's eyes widened.

"Yeah," I laughed. "Crazy stuff."

I explained what I knew to her for the last few minutes until we had to finish the rest of the school day. We immediately practised Sam's two songs after school. We also decided to practice our introduction on stage with Nick being our audience on the couch. After self-teaching himself how to edit holograms, Nick managed to have May's image and audio be presentable on stage. His phone lied on the floor projecting where May would have been and was set on pause for Amy to stealthily unpause. I didn't know where to start, but Rose did.

"I'm the leader of the band," she stated. "So I might as well be the speaker."

"But you didn't name it!" Nick shouted, being in character.

"You didn't have to pretend to be the audience yet," Rose muttered.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Amy shouted in a referee voice. "Let's give it up for Chiiimpz! Oh, wait, I meant Tamariiinz!"

"Woo!" Nick awkwardly clapped by himself.

"Ahem," Rose began. "Welcome, music fans and Shakespeareans alike. We are the _Tamarinz_. I am the founder _and_ bassist, Rose."

"I'm No-Eyes," I waved. "The singer, melodica player and... The tallest, apparently. Besides Amy." I looked around with a smirk on my face for a second as I said that.

"Shut up," Rose face-palmed.

"Er," Sam began. "I'm Samantha. I'm obviously the drummer."

"I'm May," Amy tried to mimic May but unintentionally did an unfamiliar constipated voice, using her unattached fist to lipsync through the hologram.

"What on Earth was _that_?" Rose tried not to laugh as Nick was cracking up.

"And _I'm_ Amy. How ya doin'?"

"Doin' good," Nick shouted in character. "Or should I say 'Feel Good?'"

"Now without further ado," Rose continued. "This first song was written by the wonderful Samantha. If you don't like this song, then I'll cut you open and use your blood to write my next songs-"

"_ER_," Nick buzzed. "Wrong! That's not what the audience wants to hear!"

"Just being honest," Rose defended.

"They don't have to like it," Sam bashfully commented.

"I'm sure they'll love it," I told her.

"Okay," Rose sighed. "Forget that last part."

Rose then cued Sam. She tapped her drumsticks to count us off and we began the first song as Nick cheered. With Amy's hand still detached, she pressed the play button of the hologram at the right moment. It flew back to her arm quickly afterwards and she danced along to the song until her rap part began. We knew the song by heart, so the playthrough went smoothly. When we stopped, Nick cheered again.

"Thank you," I smiled.

"This next song is also from Sam,' Rose started. "Just as brilliant as the first-"

"Er, sorry to interrupt," Sam asked. "But do you really mean what you say about my songs?"

"Yes, my dear," Rose gave a seemingly genuine smile.

"Aww!" Nick shouted in character once more.

"I'll chuck my heel at you," Rose threatened him.

I laughed and shook my head. Rose cued Sam again and we went through the same procedure for the second song, this time going as smoothly as the previous song. Nick stood up and applauded as we all took a bow together.

"I hope you enjoy the rest of Much Ado About Nothing!" I shouted.

"And scene," Amy concluded.

"That was great, guys!" Nick cheered. "I'll be in tears at the show."

"Oh!" I remembered. "This reminds me! I need to call my family to remind them! Sam, did you let your's know?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"Rose-?" I cut myself off. "... Nevermind."

"I didn't want her to come anyway," she commented, looking away.

Shaking off guilt, I dialled my father's number as fast as I could. The wait wasn't long for him to answer.

"Hello?" 2-D picked up.

"Hi, dad!" I smiled. "I know you saved the date, but I just wanted to remind you-"

"What date?" he asked.

"Er..." I was surprised that he forgot.

"Just kiddin', love," he chuckled. "Of course we'll all show up for your first gig! Good luck. I'm proud of you."

"Shoulda saved it for after the show," I blank tears of joy away. "Thanks. I love you."

"Oh, well. Love ya, too."

We both hung up and I accidentally made eye-contact with Rose, so she had to comment.

"I'm touched," she commented with a blank expression. "Everyone pack up your instruments."

I felt absolutely horrible. It was insensitive of me to not step outside to the balcony and fall to my death after breaking it with my first step. That's how bad I felt. We all did as we were told and were already dressed so we were ready to watch the first half of Much Ado About Nothing before going onstage. Sam's drum kit fit miraculously in the trunk of the SUV with the rest of the instruments in their cases making it more steady. It was excruciatingly noisy and unpredictable because of the symbols driving Rose insane and she could barely see behind her with it in the way. We made it to the parking lot in one piece. Amy was the one who fit the drums in there and took it out just as fast and with ease, so she snuck it in through the emergency exit that led to backstage. Rose, Sam, Nick and I walked in with our instruments to the girl who did the announcements this morning and was now in charge of entry. Nick was about to ask where exactly to go to drop everything off, but she looked up and revealed her distinct blue eyes.

"ID's, please," the girl spoke in May's voice with a devilish grin.

"May!" Rose gasped. "Who do you think you are possessing this poor awkward teenager?!"

"I'm begging you, May," I pleaded. "Don't ruin this performance for us. I'm sorry for my family's mistakes. These guys don't deserve to be humiliated in front of everyone."

"So selfless," May menaced. "But you seem to have forgotten something, No-Hope. Didn't you learn anything from Rosie here? I'm not doing _shite_ for you. You all won't have to worry about humiliation when I drag you all to-"

It was at that moment when a family walked in and May immediately escaped the body she possessed, which fell unconscious and was caught by Nick. He shook her awake to make her continue her duty.

"My, what a long nap you just had," Nick lied without her seeing his face. She spazzed out and accidentally startled the family.

"ID's, please!"

...


	11. Chapter 11

After finding the right door, we were led to the backstage hallway by Amy's detached hand holding on to one of her eyeballs. We were startled at first _sight_ as it flashed right through the door, and being paranoid about May did not help, but we snuck inside and found ourselves in the grey hallway. The left side was the bathrooms and water fountains. Straight ahead was the room of props and background art, which was wide open with the light on and revealed everything that was not going to be used, some furniture that looked like it came from woodshop class, and a floor with neon paint splattered all over. All of the actors were inside that room rehearsing and changing. That would be an amazing place to hang out before performing or even in general. But if you walk in and turn to your right, there is a large garage-like door that leads to the actual waiting area right behind the curtains that is dark, narrow, and has a single sofa for lounging and the props about to be used. That garage-like door was closed so we entered the waiting area through the right-side door of the hallway.

Amy's hand and eyeball returned to her as she was lounging on that couch near the drum kit which was waiting to be played. We dropped the rest of the instruments off by it and joined Amy on the sofa, which faced the curtains where the play was about to be in session. With the drama teacher or director doing an intro and the lights slightly dimming, we would softly chat until we join the audience.

"Any signs of May?" Amy asked as we approached.

"Yes," I worried. "She possessed someone and one of us might be next."

"She can take me," Nick boldly stated.

"She's probably not gonna take you just 'cause you said that out loud," Rose told him.

"You would make a good Beatrice," I remarked. "Just a random thought. You have that sass."

"You think I'm some sort of stuck-up feminist or something?" Rose shot back.

"You _did _only recruit ladies," Amy noted.

"And here we have Hero," Rose hand pointed to Sam's direction. "The naive romantic who can't handle public humiliation."

"I'll give you that," Sam admitted.

"All this talk about the play," Nick suggested. "You all ready to go down and watch the first half? Keep an eye out for May. And if you have to in the literal sense, Amy, go ahead."

"Okay," Amy laughed.

The auditorium lights were turning off so we all got up and walked through the door that led to the part of the stage out of the audience's view. There was a ramp along the same side of the auditorium entrance that led to the two-by-three rows of seats. While we were walking to the back middle row, I was looking for the Gorillaz, but I could not tell they were there because it was already dark and there was a surprisingly large amount of people in the crowd. Right before she could walk up the steps to the back row, Rose paused and hid her face behind her hand as if she was suffering from a migraine.

"Please excuse me," she muttered. "I'll be right back."

She went through the side entrance squeezing through others walking in. We continued to find the best seats, but I was a bit concerned for her.

"That sounded out-of-character," I thought aloud. We then stopped and looked at each other with a horrible realization.

"May!" we whisper-shouted.

Amy held her nose, shut one eye, and blew as the same eyeball shot right out like a bullet. It ricocheted to the wall and out the open doors that Rose left.

"Oh," Nick's face lifted. "So that's how you did it."

"Yuck," Sam giggled.

"It looks like... She's heading towards the elevator," Amy observed from her detached eye.

"I'll get her," Nick suggested.

"Before you go," Sam dug in her purse. "Here's the holy water I promised."

"You're a life-savor," Nick grabbed it and followed Rose out the door.

Amy, Sam, and I chose to sit in an area away from everyone else so Amy could whisper to us everything that was going on. Although we would sometimes get distracted by the performance when it became really interesting. Her eye quickly levitated low on the ground out of everyone's view to detect what she could. Like a drunkard, Rose appeared to be stumbling to a restricted elevator at the corner inside the entrance only used for the student stage crew and janitors. The button that controlled the elevator required a key to open, so she pulled out a bobby pin and found her way in. Without drawing attention to himself, he tried to stop her from entering but was too late and only the eye made it.

The inside of the elevator was dual-coloured under a dying light and silent. They had become Rosemary. Through Rose's reflection on the shiny metal door, she saw May staring back. They began to argue as they went from the elevator to the hidden bedroom-like area of furniture and utensils crammed in to make another great hang-out spot.

"I'm glad she gathered the band to come and watch her die," May stated. "And you'll be the one to kill her. I started with the easiest one to possess."

"As if!" Rose switched back. "Unlike _you, _I still need her."

"You need her to be your punching bag, you poor vulnerable thing. Who will you have left after I do Pazuzu a favour and gas her? Murdoc never had children so she's the next option. That just means the _entire band_ will be affected by his curse."

"The coward didn't even bother showing up himself. That's what you all are! A bunch of cowards! You only know how to tempt people into doing your bidding and could be easily swatted away like flies!"

"You wish it were that easy just to say 'no' to me. Look at who's being dragged to the catwalk."

Amy could only see where they were walking and struggled to read their lips.

"I should have brought an ear with it, too," she realised. "They're getting heated up in there!"

"Where are they going now?" I anxiously asked.

"They're going upstairs now and it looks like they're heading towards the catwalk up there."

I could not take my eyes off of the catwalk above the stage. I had no idea what the two were up to.

"You see this here golf ball?" May continued, summoning a red golf ball with a black skull imprinted from her violet mist. "This is exactly what you're gonna shoot at her. For such a small thing, there's enough gas in here to suffocate all of those suckers down there. I was just going to kill good ole No-Boobs, but then I thought 'why not just kill everybody in the room?'"

"Only _I _get to poke fun at her stupid nickname!" Rose shot back.

"She's got balls!" Amy accidentally blurted aloud.

Some in the crowd and even some of the actors turned to us. I froze with a stunned expression and Sam blushed so hard, trying to duck under her seat.

"Yeah!" someone in the crowd jokingly agreed. "Go, Beatrice!" Everyone began cheering for the actress that played Beatrice because she has balls, apparently. The actress felt the need to react.

"Finally!" the actress improvised. "Some people with common sense around here!"

"Sorry, guys," Amy whispered to us. "She has a red golf ball in her hand. You said she was out to get you, No-Eyes? I'll make sure I catch it so nobody else panics."

Amy's eye was accidentally caught in the corner of _Rose's_ eye.

"Looks like I dropped one of them," May turned to grab it, but Amy's eye bounced away in terror.

"Let's check on Nick, shall we?" Amy nervously laughed.

The eyeball found its way out of that room and spotted Nick waiting for the elevator to come back down after he pushed the button that was still unlocked. He was staring at his phone only appearing to be hologram-calling someone so he would not look too suspicious around the people in the concession stand. The eyeball floated above his phone, catching on to what he was doing.

"Amy!" Nick smiled. "Did you spot her...? Oh, you're just an eye. You can't speak _or _hear me."

A lady was staring at him ever so confused but looked away to not be caught judging. The eyeball led him to another way upstairs. He ran back to the backstage hallway looking for the other way up. Backstage, he found a blocked stairway that led right to the catwalk. He climbed the gate and landed on the other side. Amazed at his little accomplishment, he continued up the stairs and made sure he was not caught by the actors waiting for their scene, with the help of the area being dark.

Rose found the door with the label "CATWALK" and used the same bobby pin to unlock that door against her will. She opened it and was met by Nick right next to her, startling them both.

"You in there, Rose?" he asked, but the only answer he got was a demonic hiss accompanied with bright blue eyes.

"Sorry if I ruin your dress," he reluctantly splashed some of the holy water in her face, emitting a smokey violet mist that she tried to block with her hands that became claws. May's only option was to escape Rose's body, making her fall to her knees. May's face, now partly melted with eyes glowing white, was revealed to be similar to Pazuzu's.

"Er," Nick began. "Was I supposed to do that?"

"Look what you've done to me," May seethed. "You're really pushing it. I was gonna wait until the band started because I thought you guys could use some smoke for a dramatic effect, but I could just drop this right now."

"I can't believe that water actually did something," Rose stood up, disguising her weariness. "Gimme that bottle."

Nick held out the water bottle for Rose to grab, but she instead pulled out a dagger, sliced the top and dipped it in to soak it with the holy water, scaring Nick.

"Whoa," Nick stammered. "Okay, er, I'll just stand here in case the dagger dries up, I guess."

After slipping off her heels, Rose dashed towards May in an attempt to stab where her heart would be. May constantly dodged and backed up until they were at the centre of the platform. May would slash her with her claws. Because they were fighting long enough for the interlude to commence, May was too distracted to drop the golf ball so they continued until one was terminated. Holy water would fling from the dagger and sting May's skin like drops of acid slowly tearing her apart. Most everyone had walked out of the auditorium to buy some snacks from the concessions, but us remaining Tamarinz stayed and watched in suspense.

"Are the stage crew kids totally missing this?!" Sam asked.

"They were probably dead focused on their cues," Amy thought.

They were actually distracting themselves, messing around and not noticing the fight because nobody ever really uses that catwalk unless it was an emergency. I've been listening to them. Glad they were having fun, though. We can take this ourselves. Suddenly, a stage choreographer came up to us, so Amy hid her face behind her hair thinking her ghostly face was scarier than Sam's white eyes and my pitch-black eyes.

"Hi," she greeted. "Are you the Chimpanzees?"

"Sure we are," I replied.

"Follow me backstage."

"Er, okay..."

Amy, Sam, and I panicked and had to think of something quick now that we could not sneak up to the catwalk to help Rose and Nick. And nobody else is noticing the fight even though they are clearly causing a ruckus with the faintly heard footsteps, rattling, and some sort of leakage. I suppose people generally look down rather than up. What will be of that red doomsday device? What will be of the _band_?!

...


	12. Chapter 12

The three of us were led backstage for a word from the director himself right after he scolded his students.

"I just want to thank you all for participating in this," he shook our hands, ignoring how he could see through Amy's hand. "... I could've sworn there were more band members."

"Thanks for having us," I explained. "And you would be right. Our bassist and guitarist are... Grabbing snacks right now. We also have our number one groupie. I swear he's not my brother."

"And you must be the front lady."

"I suppose I am. Not to be mistaken for the leader, our bassist."

"Ah, yes. Eventually, I hope you take me to your leader."

With an eye still on the fight, the two are seen mercilessly attempting to slice each other. When Rose's dagger dried up, she called Nick over so she could dip it back in the holy water without turning her back on the unpredictable May. He wanted to do more than just stand there awkwardly, so he waited for the right moment to hold the demon down. He swooped under her arms and grabbed her from behind, hooking her arms.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed. "Now what, Rose?"

"She has something I want," Rose replied.

Rose reached in May's pocket for the red golf ball, but she could not be held back for long. Her arms slipped right through Nick's hold like fog trailing through. She gave Rose a swift punch in the face, displacing her nose and shifting it to her right side. She was knocked down with her face covered by her hair and laid statically as May walked up to her.

"Oh, that's horrible!" she remarked. "Looks like they'll call you Crooked-Nose Rose from now on!"

Now on her knees looking down, Rose quivered with rage on the brink of snapping. But she stopped. Without facing May, she stood up and dusted off.

"Looks like you got me back," she admitted. "I let Nick ruin your face, so you ruined mine. I can't let people see me like this... And now the show is about to start." After turning back around, she then cleared her throat while saying something almost ineligible.

"Wha- Are you retarded?" May asked, digging in her pocket. "You're accepting your fate and now you're just gonna let everyone die like that so you don't die of embarrassment first? Some friend you are. Oh, wait. You never had any! Born unloved and dead unloved. Well, it's been good knowing you, Rose."

With her eyes fixated on Rose, May dropped what she had raised directly over the stage. She stood there waiting for a reaction, but it bounced back in her hand.

"Huh?" She looked at her right hand and found that it was not the golf ball she dropped. It was Amy's eye looking back at her. "I had three of them. Where did they go?!"

"Well, gee," Nick smirked. "They were so small. How could you _not_ lose them?"

"You!" May growled. "... It would be a shame if _you_ dropped them."

She went over and socked him on the right shoulder and his stomach, almost completely loosening his grip.

"Their lives are in _your_ hands now—" she warned him right before being decapitated by Rose with her holy dagger. A clean-cut, but the body fell forward after a second of being still towards Nick while allowing the eyeball to slip free. As he caught it, he accidentally squeezed the three golf balls in his hand enough to crack one of them, emitting a violet fog through his hand.

"Crap," he whisper-shouted.

"You idiot," Rose whispered back. "Follow me."

Leaving May behind, Rose and Nick ran over to the door she came out of and approached the emergency exit on the roof of the building. While Nick moved the fog further away from his face and placed the rest in his pocket, Rose climbed the metal steps and struggled to open the door.

"It's too heavy," Rose pushed.

"I got it," Nick put her back down. "Hold your breath."

"Can I have the ones that aren't busted? I could use those."

"I think _I'll_ hold on to them for a while."

He forced the door open with his back and threw it out, exploding on the ground. After fanning out what was in their way, he shut the door and plopped down after dangling on the handle.

"How's May doing over there?" Nick wondered.

Rose turned and saw that the catwalk was empty.

"I'd hate to assume that she won't be our problem anymore," she replied. "She probably just escaped back to Hell."

"She won't be back for a while. Good job getting rid of her."

"Good job switching the gas bombs. I knew she was a numbskull, but I didn't know she couldn't feel hands going through her pocket."

"It's actually pretty easy— Er, let's head back before the band starts."

"How am I gonna make an entrance, though?"

Amy, Sam, and I were almost done setting up after the director introduced us and called us the Tambourines. Of course, he was joking and actually called us the Tamarinz. What a guy! Most everyone applauded and we did whatever we would do to get rid of nervousness. With May's hologram already set up and showing a frozen, somewhat distorted guitarist, I wonder if anyone would notice and be concerned. I was relieved to see Rose and Nick about to walk on stage, but she hesitated.

"This is actually happening," she murmured.

"You're gonna do great," Nick guaranteed.

"Huh?" she snapped out of it. "You said that as if I was nervous or something."

With a wheelchair she borrowed from the large storage room, Rose slid across the stage standing on top of it while holding on to the back. She won the crowd's attention and made them go crazy for her. After landing by her bass stand, she put it on, pushed the chair back to Nick who ran to the other end, and walked up to the main microphone. Our self-introductions were almost exactly like how we practised, but my nervousness became glee. Right after I introduced myself, I might have looked a little silly but I saw the Gorillaz among the audience. My father and Russel waved at me as the rest gave looks of encouragement.

"Dad," I smiled, inaudible from the mic. If he and the band were to give a surprise visit, I would have cried with joy in front of everyone. That is specifically why I reminded him to come.

Exactly like how we rehearsed, we commenced with the first song, but my heart felt so light. I sang with more passion than ever before and it showed. The crowd was more engaged than we expected, but I was even more glad to know that my loved ones were supporting me through and through. The audience immediately applauded when we ended that tune. The great feedback made us just as thrilled to play the next song as we were for the first. Phones were out, but they were on us! Supporting a local band. How sweet! We finished the show with an otherworldly response. I was a bit carried away with what seemed to be a slow-motion capture of victory and I bet the others were, too. We bowed and grabbed our instruments on our way to backstage, but Rose had a small reminder for the audience.

"We're the Tamarinz," she clarified. "Just FYI. We take autographs. You should also follow us on social media..."

"What did I tell you, No-Eyes?" Sam smiled as we walked away. "You did amazing!"

"It was all thanks to you letting us use your songs," I added.

"Great first show, ladies," Amy chimed in. "I better get the instruments out of the way."

She lifted the drumset and carried it back to the SUV likewise to how she brought them in, and then did the same to the rest. Nick, Sam, and I emerged from the backstage entrance, noticing the audience members that prepared for converse and reunions. I walked away from the two and found the Gorillaz coming up to me with a fluffy white teddy bear with its arms wrapped around a bouquet of roses.

"Here you go," Murdoc grinned. "A fire-starter for you. It was my idea."

"Thanks," I took the gift from my father. "Too bad we don't have a fireplace."

"We _do _have a haunted mansion to burn down," 2-D hinted.

"You mean it?!" I gasped. "You're finally getting out of there?"

"Yep," Russel replied. "With all due respect, we only stayed there for two reasons: your high school and our surplus."

"We're heading back to America," Noodle smiled.

"That's great! I hope you enjoy it back there. I'll miss you guys even more."

I joined them in a group selfie before saying my goodbyes and running back to the band to tell them a plan that soon came to mind. Meanwhile, Rose was standing against the wall by the auditorium entrance by herself as she watched everyone mingle. After the director shook the audience's hands as they walked out, he left the doorway and confronted Rose.

"There you are!" the director cheered. "What a fine show you put on, Miss Rose. Thank you so much for coming. You and your band have a bright future ahead."

"Why, thank you," Rose blushed, expecting him to comment on her nose. "I picked a good bunch, didn't I?"

"And thoughtful, too. I'll leave you all alone and get back to yelling at my students now."

He pointed to us coming up to her with a surprise. Thankfully, I remembered what I promised myself. And it was an easy sacrifice since I already have Now.

"No one said anything about bringing gifts," her eyes widened.

"Oh, it's just a token of our gratitude for you creating the band," I waved it in her face.

"Quit spoiling me. I'll take it since you already bought it. Now scram. Reunite with your families."

"You're welcome, Rosie!"

"Here I am," Amy sped back to us. "Let's go, Sammy."

Rose was waiting for us to look away so we could not see her smile. Sam and Amy walked to where they could be alone together so she would not get caught being ghostly. She and I bid farewell as Amy retreated to the necklace and Sam's purple eyes returned. She walked back out and spotted her step-parents approaching her. Being her bashful self, Sam smiled at them with their excitement overpowering her own as they ran to hug her.

"What did you think of the show?" she asked them in their arms.

"Great spin on the play, greater interlude," her stepmother replied.

"Yeah," her stepfather agreed. "The bassist worries me a bit, but I like your sound and I think I'll let you stay in that band. I recorded all of you and was thinking of sending it to everyone in the family—"

"Er, maybe send it to me first," Sam nervously laughed. "Looks like the band is heading out now. Be right back!"

"When you're ready to come home, we'll go and take ya out to eat!" her stepmother cheered.

Nick, Rose, and I were about to walk out the door before bidding farewell to Sam, who came up to us to explain why she would not be joining us back to the apartment.

"Going out with the fam sounds fun," Nick commented. "But I think I'll just go home and get some rest. Just _watching_ all of that action was a workout."

"Same here," I added. "Wait, why is there purple smoke outside-?"

Our first show could not have been better, and as the school year continued, we also had the pleasure of playing for school dances, parades, festivals, and anywhere else that offered the chance. The Class of 2040 was lucky to have a virtual football field concert and see a huge hologram recording of us performing a graduation song written two decades ago with Sam and me in our caps and gowns. Even Rose, who hid her cap and gown from me and admitted to graduating on time with whatever class from whatever school. Buying physical DVDs or anything of the sort is obsolete now, so the place that Sam has been working in, Big Rick Black's Record Shack, is now a cafe that only plays music from vinyl to set it apart from the rest but possibly be against the will of Big Rick. There is even a stage for open mics, something we take advantage of. You might also be pleased to know that Sam and I are now coworkers there! She brews while I take orders from the counter.

But before we graduated, it was my 20th birthday on October 10th when we visited and destroyed the Gorillaz mansion as promised for a music video before they went right back to America. They had money to burn since I secretly purchased lottery tickets for them and won. Not to brag, but I saved them from debt. The originals had finally met the predecessors in person, or what was left of them since Rose was arrested for DUI at the time and May vanished, never given the chance to perform live with the band and will be replaced when filming the music videos for our first album. I am glad we had a guitarist nonetheless. It has been quite a school year, and with this musical head start, I am curious as to how our opportunities will expand with this freedom without dwelling too much into it.


End file.
